Whole Foods Dodges Claims in ‘Natural’ Mislabeling Class Action

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On Monday, a federal court dismissed several misleading labeling claims against Whole Foods in support of the company’s motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit. The Whole Foods class action lawsuit will, however, continue to address some claims brought forth by the plaintiff.

Plaintiff Robert Platt originally filed a putative class action lawsuit against Whole Foods Market in 2012 alleging that the company mislabeled several of its products as natural when they contained artificial ingredients. Additionally, he claimed that the company sold products containing evaporated cane juice and assumed the ingredient was healthy, when in fact, it was a misleading label.

The products Pratt referred to as having misleading labels include products from Whole Foods’ 365 Everyday Value line and include apple cinnamon instant oatmeal, chicken broth, organic ketchup, tomato ketchup, cola, ginger ale, root beer and natural Italian soda.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila agreed to dismiss an unjust enrichment claim but allowed the plaintiff to amend the class action lawsuit. In response to Platt’s amended claim, Whole Foods argued that Platt knew that the ingredient “evaporated cane juice” essentially referred to sugar. Whole Foods commented, “Plaintiff still uses ‘sugar’ and ‘dried cane syrup’ interchangeably, which confirms he knows cane refers to sugar.”

In the most recent ruling from the court, Judge Davila agreed with Whole Foods that Pratt knew that the ingredient “evaporated cane juice” was in fact a form of sugar.

Judge Davila explains, “That allegation assumes plaintiff knew evaporated cane juice was a form of sugar, and directly contradicts the representations that precede it as well as his overall statement of the case. Added unrefined sugar is added sugar, no matter how plaintiff tries to spin it.”

Pratt claimed that Whole Foods allegedly violated California’s Sherman Food, Drug and Cosmetic Law by misleading consumers by using the ingredient termed “evaporated cane juice” on their labels. Such claims were dismissed from the Whole Foods class action lawsuit without the opportunity to amend.

In his amendment, Platt added two new claims that were not a part of the original Whole Foods class action lawsuit: breach of implied merchantability and negligent misrepresentation. Judge Davila addressed these claims by saying, “Indeed, pleadings would never be settled and cases would never progress if a plaintiff could independently add brand new claims each time a motion to dismiss was granted. Because plaintiff did not comply with Rule 15 before asserting them, the claims … must be dismissed without leave to amend.”

The final claim that was not dismissed and that will continue to be addressed involves Pratt’s claims against the 365 Everyday Value sodas.

According to the Whole Foods class action lawsuit, Pratt relied on the words ”all natural” and “natural” on the labels for 365 Everyday Value Cola, 365 Everyday Value Ginger Ale, 365 Everyday Value Root Beer, Natural Italian Soda in green apple flavor, and Natural Italian Soda in blood orange flavor, assuming that they were free from synthetic ingredients. Platt argues this is misleading because the product labels say the drinks contain coloring and chemical preservatives.

A Case Management Conference has been scheduled by the court and will take place next month.

Pratt is represented by Pierce Gore of Pratt & Associates and Michael Hamilton and Edward Fisher of Provost Umphrey Law Firm LLP.

The Whole Foods Mislabeling Class Action Lawsuit is Robert Pratt v. Whole Foods Market Inc., et al., Case No. 5:12-cv-05652, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.