A federal court judge has reconsidered a March 2019 ruling, stating that he ruled in error when he granted Class certification to consumers who sued Just Born Inc. for underfilling boxes of their Hot Tamales and Mike and Ike candies.
The Just Born class action lawsuit was filed in February 2017, alleging that Just Born filled their candy boxes of Hot Tamales and Mike and Ike candies half way.
U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter ruled in March of this year that the case can be certified and move forward as a Class. Just Born then filed a motion for reconsideration.
Plaintiff Stephanie Escobar filed the Mike and Ike class action after she purchased the candies at a movie theater. She claimed that the candy box was 46 percent empty with nonfunctional slack-fill.
In the Hot Tamales class action lawsuit, the plaintiff asked Just Born to shrink the candy boxes, add more candy, or provide more characteristics to the box so that customers won’t be tricked into thinking that there is more candy in the boxes than there actually is.
The judge, in the ruling for reconsideration, found that the Hot Tamales claims should not have been included in the Class certification because there was no proof that Escobar actually purchased Hot Tamales.
“Just Born is correct as to its argument that Escobar’s claims, as they relate to Hot Tamales, are not typical of the class she seeks to represent because there is no evidence or argument that she purchased Hot Tamales,” Judge Hatter states.
The judge’s opinion for reconsideration noted that Just Born argued that the court did not “rigorously analyze” whether the plaintiff correctly established the requirements under the specific federal rule.
In their motion for reconsideration, Just Born stated that Judge Hatter “did not provide analysis or reasoning” for the decision, even though there was 750 pages of briefs filed.
The court replied to this part of the motion that the length of the opinion does not need to match the length of the briefs filed in the case.
The court in the reconsideration opinion noted that, “The Court’s brevity or lack of explicit analysis does not equate to insufficient, or lack of, consideration.”
The court order states that “Just Born argued in its opposition to the motion for class certification and in its motion for reconsideration that certification was improper based on its proffered statistical data and expert analysis that the majority of the public was not actually misled or deceived.”
The Mike and Ike class action lawsuit claims that the company violated California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act, False Advertising Law, and Unfair Competition Law.
Escobar is represented by Ryan J. Clarkson, Shireen M. Clarkson and Bahar Sodaify of Clarkson Law Firm PC.
The Mike and Ike Slack-Fill Class Action Lawsuit is Stephanie Escobar v. Just Born Inc., Case No. 2:17-cv-01826, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
UPDATE: August 2020, the Mike and Ike, Hot Tamales class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.
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