Maker’s Mark False Labeling Class Action Dismissed

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On July 27, a false labeling class action lawsuit filed against Maker’s Mark Distillery Inc. was dismissed by the presiding California federal judge, finding that no reasonable consumer would be misled by the whiskey bottle’s labeling claims. The Maker’s Mark class action lawsuit alleges that Maker’s Mark whiskey product label misleads consumers into believing that the liquor is “handmade,” and alleges negligence and intentional misrepresentation by the manufacturer. Both of these claims were tossed by the court.

Plaintiffs Safora Nowrouzi and Travis Williams’ false labeling class action lawsuit against Maker’s Mark was dismissed by U.S. District Judge John A. Houston, who ruled that the labeling term “handmade” would not be interpreted by a reasonable consumer to mean quite literally made with just a person’s hands and without the aid of equipment or some automated process. Judge Houston granted Maker’s Mark’s motion to dismiss and also nixed the plaintiffs’ claims that the distiller violated California’s unfair competition and false advertising laws.

Nowrouzi and Williams filed this proposed Maker’s Mark false labeling class action lawsuit back in December of last year, when the plaintiffs claimed they purchased the distiller’s overpriced bottles of whiskey that were mass produced through a predominantly mechanized process, allegedly contradicting the whiskey bottle’s label claims that the spirit is handmade.

According to the false labeling class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim that Maker’s Mark’s website claims that the distiller uses an “old antique roller mill” to break up the grains used to make the whiskey. However, a video tour of Maker’s Mark’s factory also presented on the website reveals that the distiller does in fact use modern equipment like a hammer mill, Nowrouzi and Williams allege.

Furthermore, the Maker’s Mark class action lawsuit claims that the whiskey ingredients are mixed by a machine, the fermentation and distillation process is also performed by machines, and finally the labels featured the handmade claims are also glued onto the Maker’s Mark whiskey bottles by machines.

However, Judge Houston disagreed with the plaintiffs and dismissed the intentional misrepresentation claim, finding that Nowrouzi and Williams could not plausibly claim that Maker’s Mark intentionally deceived consumers about the whiskey making process, as the label clearly describes Maker’s Mark’s process to buyers and even suggests consumers visit the website for more information about the mechanized whiskey making process.

No decision for an appeal in this Maker’s Mark false labeling class action lawsuit has been made at this point by the court.

The plaintiffs are represented by Abbas Kazerounian and Mona Amini of Kazerouni Law Group APC, and Joshua B. Swigart of Hyde & Swigart.

The Maker’s Mark False Labeling Class Action Lawsuit is Nowrouzi, et al. v. Maker’s Mark Distillery Inc., Case No. 3:14-cv-02885, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.