Coffee-Mate Trans Fat Class Action Will Continue

Nestle cannot win summary judgement in a Coffee-mate trans fat class action lawsuit against them, according to a recent court decision.

U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney recently denied Nestle’s bid for summary judgement, finding that it isn’t known when plaintiff Mark Beasley learned that Coffee-mate coffee creamers contain trans fat.

In the company’s summary judgement motion, Nestle argued that the plaintiff’s claims were invalidated by the four-year statute of limitations.

According to Nestle, Beasley previously testified that he had know that partially hydrogenated oil was a source of trans fat since the 1990s. Based on this, Nestle argued that he would have been aware of the trans fat content of Coffee-mate creamer as a reasonable consumer who reads ingredient labels.

Although Beasley later argued that he had “misspoke” about when he learned about trans fat sources, Judge Chesney recently determined that the timeline is irrelevant. Even if he only learned about partially hydrogenated oil in 2017, as he later corrected, the judge determined that its still unknown when he learned of the trans fat content of Coffee-mate creamer.

“In this case, even given his knowledge about the relationship between PHO and trans fat, the Court finds a triable issue of fact exists as to whether Beasley, faced with multiple clear statements about the absence of trans fat in Coffee-mate, should have investigated the ingredient list,” Judge Chesney wrote in her summary judgement denial.

Beasley filed his Nestle Coffee-mate class action lawsuit in 2018, claiming that he was misled by Nestle’s representation that their coffee creamers do not contain trans fat.

The products are allegedly advertised with prominent claims that they contain “0g Trans Fat.” However, according to Beasley, Coffee-mate creamers contain partially hydrogenated oil – a known source of trans fats.

Trans fats have been ruled unsafe by federal authorities, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. These fats, including partially hydrogenated oil, can reportedly cause a variety of significant health problems including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, along with accelerated memory damage and cognitive decline.

“Doctors’ associations such as the American Heart Association, and learned societies such as the National Academies of Science, found that the addition of trans fat to the American diet by causing tens of thousands excess deaths per year, and worked to publicize these findings,” the Nestle Coffee-mate class action lawsuit alleged.

“Nestle was well aware of these dangers, but choose not to follow its food industry peers in immediately removing trans fat from its products.”

Consumers, such as Beasley, were allegedly deceived by Nestle’s trans fat representations. When looking for products free of trans fats, they were reportedly tricked into believing that Coffee-mate creamers fit the bill.

The recent denial of summary judgement is not the first time that the Nestle class action lawsuit persevered in court.

In January, Judge Chensey denied Nestle’s bid to dismiss the case against them. Similarly to their summary judgement bid, Nestle’s denial motion challenged the timeline of Beasley’s claims. The company argued that Beasley’s claims dated back to 2010 when he hadn’t discovered the truth about trans fats until 2017.

However, Judge Chesney denied this argument, finding that the plaintiff likely knew of the dangerous nature of trans fat the whole time.

Instead, 2017 was allegedly the time that Beasley knew about the trans fat in Coffee-mate creamers.

Additionally, Judge Chesney determined that Beasley had successfully claimed that he relied on Nestle using “0g Trans Fat” representations on their products.

Despite the recent court decision that Nestle cannot win summary judgement in the Coffee-mate class action lawsuit based on statutes of limitations, Nestle is reportedly confident in their ability to win the suit against them.

“While we disagree with this ruling, it pertains only to the timeliness of the plaintiff’s claims, and is in no way determinative of the merits of the plaintiff’s allegations, which remain unproven,” a spokesperson for Nestle told Law360.

“Our product labels are accurate, comply with [Food and Drug Administration] regulations and provide consumers with information to help them make informed purchasing decisions. We are confident that we will ultimately prevail in this suit.”

Did you purchase Coffee-mate creamer? Did you believe the product contained no trans fat? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Beasley and the proposed Class are represented by Gregory S. Weston and Andrew C. Hamilton of The Weston Firm.

The Nestle Coffee-Mate Class Action Lawsuit is Beasley v. Lucky Stores Inc., et al., Case No. 3:18-cv-07144, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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