Tito’s Handmade Vodka Is Machine-Made, Class Action Lawsuit Alleges

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

UPDATE: On May 4, 2015, at least eight Tito’s Vodka class action lawsuits have now been filed across the country, challenging the use of the term “Handmade” on the product label. The manufacturer is opposing a motion to transfer these cases to a California MDL.

UPDATE 2: On Jan. 11, 2016, plaintiffs Gary Hofmann and Marc Cabrera, who filed separate but similar Tito’s Handmade Vodka class action lawsuits, asked a California federal court judge to certify a proposed class of affected consumers.

Last Monday, a California resident filed a false marketing class action lawsuit against the liquor manufacturer Fifth Dimension Inc. alleging the company unlawfully and deceptively marketed their Vodka product as handmade when it was allegedly machine-made.

Tito’s Handmade Vodka is a distilled liquor sold throughout California and on its labels, it claims that the Fifth Dimension produced Vodka is “Crafted in an Old Fashioned Pot Still by America’s Original Microdistillery.” However, based on the allegations in this false marketing class action lawsuit, Tito’s Vodka may actually have been mass-produced in a large industrial building with massive floor-to-ceiling stills with the capacity of distilling and bottling up to 500 cases of Tito’s Vodka an hour.

Lead plaintiff Gary Hofmann alleges in the Tito’s Vodka class action lawsuit: “There is simply nothing ‘handmade’ about the Vodka, under any definition of the term, because the Vodka is: (1) made from commercially manufactured ‘neutral grain spirit’ (‘NGS’) that is trucked and pumped into TITO’s industrial facility; (2) distilled in a large industrial complex with modern, technologically advanced stills; and (3) produced and bottled in extremely large quantities (i.e., it is ‘mass produced’).”

In August of this year, Hofmann purchased a bottle of Tito’s Handmade Vodka at his local San Diego liquor store. He alleges that he and other Class Members relied on the “handmade” claim on the label when purchasing the Tito’s brand Vodka and allege they were deceived by the false label.

According to the Tito’s class action lawsuit, Hoffman “believed at the time he purchased the Vodka that he was in fact buying a high-quality product made by human hands that was not made in large industrial vats in mass quantities[.]” He further alleges that he and other Class Members suffered “injury in fact” by paying more for a supposedly handmade item when it was actually machine manufactured.

Gary Hofmann has filed this Tito’s Handmade Vodka false marketing class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and other similarly situated Class Members, which would include all consumers in the State of California who bought Tito’s Handmade Vodka under the belief that it was hand-crafted.

The plaintiff brings forth several allegations against Fifth Dimension, the designer, manufacturer, producer, and seller of Tito’s Handmade Vodka in this false marketing class action lawsuit. These class action claims include: violation of the Business and Professions Code, violation of the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, and negligent misrepresentation.

Hofmann is seeking relief in the form of monetary restitution and compensation for all Class Members by Fifth Dimension, payment of attorney’s fees, punitive damages, and all other forms of relief as deemed just and fit by the court.

Hofmann is represented by John H. Donboli and JL Sean Slattery of Del Mar Law Group LLP.

The Tito’s Handmade Vodka False Marketing Class Action Lawsuit is Hofmann v. Fifth Dimension Inc., Case No. 37-2014-00031150-CU-NP-CTL, in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Diego.