Calif. Almond Breeze Class Action Decertified by Judge

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A statewide Blue Diamond Almond Breeze class action lawsuit was decertified on Dec. 15 by a California federal judge, ruling that the lead plaintiff failed to provide the court with an accurate damages model. The Almond Breeze class action lawsuit claims that Blue Diamond Growers misrepresented their almond milk products by using the term “evaporated cane juice” instead of sugar on their product labels.

According to Monday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh granted Blue Diamond’s motion to decertify a Class of California Almond Breeze consumers who allegedly bought the mislabeled Almond Breeze brand almond milk product as of May 2008. Judge Koh ruled that the plaintiff’s expert’s methodology used to create the Almond Breeze damages model is flawed. Furthermore, the same damages model cannot point out specific damages linked to the alleged almond milk product mislabeling, according the Almond Breeze class action lawsuit.

Plaintiff Chris Werdebaugh, who filed the Blue Diamond class action lawsuit in May 2012, argued that his model created by damages expert Dr. Oral Capps was sufficient and valid in federal court because at no point did Blue Diamond contest the validity of Dr. Capps’ methods.

However, Judge Koh disagreed with Werdebaugh, stating:

“As an initial matter, plaintiff cites no authority for the overbroad proposition that the court is limited to reviewing ‘the soundness of the methodology’ in the abstract at the class certification stage. To the contrary, the court is obligated to do more than rubberstamp a proposed damages class merely because a plaintiff’s expert purports to have used a peer reviewed methodology such as a regression analysis.”

Judge Koh had granted preliminary certification to a statewide Class of California consumers earlier this year in May, while simultaneously denying Werdebaugh’s motion to certify a nationwide Class of Almond Breeze consumers. The judge had granted statewide Class certification for the Blue Diamond class action lawsuit based on the plaintiff’s promise to provide evidence of consumer injuries directly linked to the alleged “evaporated cane juice” and “all natural” labels found on Blue Diamond almond products.

This ruling brings a decisive advantage for Blue Diamond, as the company attempted to dismiss the Almond Breeze class action lawsuit in October 2013, but was subsequently denied by Judge Koh.

According to Judge Koh, Dr. Capp’s damages model cannot demonstrate how the labeling of Almond Breeze milk with the aforementioned labels affected the price of the Blue Diamond product. The judge’s ruling states, “Instead, Dr. Capps’ methodology measures the ‘combined effect’ of Blue Diamond’s brand value and Blue Diamond’s use of ‘evaporated cane juice’ and/or ‘All Natural’ on the prices of the challenged products.” Since the judge found that Werdebaugh’s damages model cannot accurately isolate how the alleged Blue Diamond Almond Breeze mislabeling affected the price of the product, the judge ruled in favor of Blue Diamond and grant the company’s motion to decertify the statewide Class.

Finally, in the judge’s memorandum regarding the Blue Diamond Almond Breeze class action lawsuit, Judge Koh granted Blue Diamond’s motion to exclude Dr. Capp’s expert report from court proceedings, based on the fact that the damages model does not match line up with the plaintiff’s originally proposed model.

Plaintiff Chris Werdebaugh is represented by Ben F. Pierce Gore of Pratt & Associates.

The Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Class Action Lawsuit is Werdebaugh, et al. v. Blue Diamond Growers, Case No. 5:12-cv-02724, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.