Dole Wins Pre-Trial Victory in Fruit Labeling Class Action Lawsuit

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On Monday, Dole Foods Inc. won a pre-trial motion in the fruit mislabeling class action lawsuit, arguing that the “all natural” labels at issue are not likely to deceive consumers.

Lead plaintiff Chad Brazil alleged in the fruit mislabeling class action lawsuit that by using “all natural” on the labeling and online to describe its mixed fruit products, Dole misled consumers into thinking that no artificial or synthetic ingredients were added to the products. Brazil argued that Dole’s use of artificial citric acid and ascorbic acid as chemical preservatives violated the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s informal policy regarding natural foods.

In a motion for summary judgment Dole filed prior to trial, the company claimed that its “all natural” labels refer only to the actual fruit used and they only used natural fermentation to make the additives in its fruit products. Dole also argued that consumers would expect citric acid and asorbic acids to be present in its mixed fruit product. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh issued an order granting Dole’s motion for summary judgment, bringing the false advertising class action lawsuit to a close.

“[The plaintiff] has offered no evidence that citric acid and ascorbic acid, the two allegedly synthetic ingredients found in the challenged Dole products, ‘would not normally be expected to be in’ those products, as the FDA definition requires,” Judge Koh wrote. “Absent any evidence that reasonable consumers would not normally expect citric acid and ascorbic acid to be found in the challenged Dole products, [the plaintiff] cannot rely on FDA’s informal policy to show that those consumers were likely to have been misled,” the judge continued.

“[T]here is insufficient evidence that the ‘All Natural Fruit’ label statement on the challenged Dole products was likely to mislead reasonable consumers and that the label statements were therefore unlawful on that basis,” concluded Judge Koh.

The Dole fruit class action lawsuit survived a previous motion by Dole for dismissal where Judge Lucy Koh did not buy Dole’s argument that the case should be dismissed because the lead plaintiff hadn’t purchased each product named, finding that the plaintiff could have been affected by common advertising and labeling. However, last month the damages Class was decertified by Judge Koh as well.

Brazil is represented by Ben F. Pierce Gore of Pratt & Associates and Charles Barrett of Charles Barrett PC.

The Dole Fruit False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Chad Brazil v. Dole Food Co. Inc., et al., Case No. 5:12-cv-01831, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On Sept. 12, 2016, Consumers who purchased Dole fruit products that were allegedly misleadingly labeled “all natural” asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to revive their class action lawsuit, which had been previously dismissed in 2014.

UPDATE 2: On Sept. 30, 2016, plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit alleging Dole misleads consumers by labeling its frozen berry products as “all natural” when they contain synthetic ingredients won in the Ninth Circuit. However, the buyers have more work to do.