Muscle Milk False Advertising Class Action Faces Setback

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Consumers may have won a class action lawsuit settlement over allegations that CytoSport’s Muscle Milk products contain trace amounts of metals, but they will have to improve their claims of falsely advertising how healthy the products are in a separate class action lawsuit if they want to pursue litigation, a federal judge ruled.Plaintiff Claire Delacruz sued CytoSport in July 2011 for pushing its Muscle Milk products with false nutritional claims, despite the products being “equivalent to fat-laden junk food.”

According to her class action lawsuit, a standard-sized container of CytoSport’s Muscle Milk drink contains the same number of calories and almost as much fat and saturated fat as a “Glazed Kreme Filling” Krispe Kreme doughnut. The same holds true for CytoSport’s Muscle Milk Bars, Delacruz alleges.

“CytoSport makes representations and omissions that are intended to mislead consumers to believe that [Muscle Milk Ready-to-Drink and Muscle Milk Bars] are healthy, nutritious, and should be regularly consumed to help them live a healthy lifestyle,” the class action lawsuit states. However, “with almost 50% of their caloric content coming from fats, the Products are equivalent to fat-laden junk food.”

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken agreed that CytoSport’s claim that “healthy fats” on its Muscle Milk Ready-to-Drink packaging might mislead consumers, saying “a reasonable consumer would be likely to believe that the drink contains unsaturated, not saturated, fats.”

Wilken also agreed that using the term “nutritional shake” on the packaging “contributes to a sufficient claim of deceptive product labeling,” but said Delacruz’s overall complaint lacks sufficient detail to pursue claims that she was duped into believing that Muscle Milk products were healthy and would help her lose weight.

“Plaintiff alleges that the ‘healthy, sustained energy’ claim on the [Ready-to-Drink] seventeen ounce container is false and misleading. However, the term ‘healthy’ is difficult to define and plaintiff has not alleged that the drink contains unhealthy amounts of fat, saturated fat or calories from fat, compared to its protein content, based on any objective criteria,” Judge Wilken wrote.

“While plaintiff alleges that Muscle Milk [Ready-to-Drink] contains unspecified amounts of saturated fat that are equal to or exceed that in certain Krispy Kreme doughnuts, this analogy is not helpful,” Wilken added, objecting to the lack of clarification as to the fat content of Krispy Kremes in Delacruz’s complaint.

Delacruz has seven days to file an amended complaint that corrects the insufficient claims in her argument if she wants to proceed with a class action lawsuit, Judge Wilken said.

You can read the original CytoSport Muscle Milk False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit here.

The case is Claire Delacruz v. Cytosport, Inc., Case No. 11-cv-3532, United States District Court, Northern District of California.

UPDATE 1: The amended Muscle Milk false advertising class action lawsuit has been approved! Read more here.

UPDATE 2: A federal judge preliminarily approved the Muscle Milk class action settlement on Nov. 18, 2013. We will update our readers as soon as claim filing instructions are available.

UPDATE 3: On July 1, 2014, a federal judge granted final approval to the Delacruz v. Cytosport Muscle Milk class action settlement. Over 33,300 Class Members will receive over $30 each, according to the approval Order. If you get a check, let us know!

UPDATE 4: Checks were mailed to eligible Class Members on Sept. 23, 2014. Congrats to everyone who got paid!