Family Dollar Almonds Class Action Lawsuit Challenges ‘Smoked’ Label

A New York customer has accused Family Dollar of selling falsely advertised smoked almonds to customers. He says that the Family Dollar almonds are not really smoked and instead are flavored with a seasoning that gives the taste of smoked almonds.

The Family Dollar smoked almonds class action lawsuit was filed by Johnnie Bynum, who says that he was surprised to learn that the smoked almonds he purchased from Family Dollar were not smoked at all. He says that, had he known this before he made his selection, he would have not purchased the item or would have not paid as much for it. In his eyes, Family Dollar intentionally mislabeled the product in an effort to mislead him and many other customers.

Bynum explains that he purchased at least one package of the Family Dollar Smoked Almonds in August 2019 near his home in New York. He says that he relied on the packaging of the product to make his decision. He stresses that, if it weren’t for the labeling of the product, he would not have purchased it.

Bynum goes into detail about what he says is the misleading nature of the packaging. He explains that Family Dollar sells products under the “Eatz” brand, including the smoked almonds products, and therefore has control of the labeling and packaging for the Eatz products.

The Family Dollar almonds class action lawsuit explains that front of the package of the almonds in question read “Eatz,” followed by “Smoked Almonds” with a red color scheme and an image of the almonds. The back of the package lists the ingredients, including “almonds roasted in peanut, and/or cottonseed, and/or sunflower, and/or canola oil” and farther down the list, “natural smoke flavor.”

According to the Family Dollar almonds misleading labeling class action lawsuit, the ingredients list indicates that the almonds are not really smoked and are instead flavored to imitate the effect of smoking.

Bynum says that Family Dollar is well aware that most customers do not read the back of the label and rely on the front label to make their purchasing decisions. He states that most consumers would not think that they would have to look at the back label to determine if the front label was misleading or not.

He says that in this way, the company took advantage of “cognitive shortcuts,” made by many customers as they make purchasing decisions. As a result, the company allegedly abused the trust that Family Dollar has gained in the industry and with consumers by tricking them into thinking that they could rely on the company’s labeling.

Allegedly, Family Dollar could have easily made the front label less misleading, but chooses to mislead customers knowingly.

The plaintiff notes that a competitor, Planters, sells a smoked almond product that, like the Eatz product, is not really smoked. Bynum stresses that the difference between the two products, however, is that the Planters product is labeled as “Smoked Almonds Naturally Flavored” on the front, disclosing to customers that the product is not really smoked but merely has the flavor of being smoked.

Bynum says that Family Dollar intentionally misleads its customers in an attempt to increase its profits.

Allegedly, he and other customers were willing to pay a premium price for the Family Dollar almonds specifically because they believed that they were smoked.

He states that the fact that the Eatz almonds did not bear a disclosure that they were smoked flavored as opposed to smoked led customers to purchase the Family Dollar products instead of another product, paying more than they would have for a comparable product.

Specifically, Bynum says that the products are sold at a premium of $1 per 7 ounce bag, excluding tax. Allegedly, this is more than the price of comparable products.

The Family Dollar almonds class action lawsuit asserts that, in mislabeling the product, Family Dollar has violated New York General Business Law by misrepresenting the substantive attributes of the product, which is prohibited by the law. Additionally, the law prohibits misleading, deceptive, fraudulent, and unfair labeling, which Bynum says the company used.

Do you read the back label of products before purchasing them? Tell us in the comments below.

Bynum is represented by Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates PC.

The Family Dollar Almonds False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Johnnie Bynum v. Family Dollar Stores Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-06878, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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