New Capatriti Olive Oil Class Action Lawsuit Wants Owners Held Responsible

A class action lawsuit filed against Kangadis Foods Inc. in April 2013 has reportedly forced the company to go bankrupt after spending more than $1.4 million to fight allegations that it deceptively marketed its Capatriti olive oil as 100% pure when it allegedly contains a chemically derived olive product called pomace.

Last week, Class Members filed a separate class action lawsuit against the owners of the now bankrupt Kangadis Foods, arguing that the company’s owners should be held liable because they were allegedly directly involved in “the unlawful scheme to pass off pomace oil as ‘Capatriti 100 percent pure olive oil.’”

The plaintiffs, Joseph Ebin and Yeruchem Jenkins, alleged in the 2013 Capatriti olive oil class action lawsuit that pomace is “a byproduct extracted from leftover olive skins and pits using a combination of chemical solvents and high temperatures.” “Unsurprisingly,” alleges the complaint, “because Pomace can be obtained only through heating and solvent treatments, it does not appear in pure olive oil. And, although it comes from olives, it is not olive oil.”

The Capatriti olive oil class action lawsuit continues, “[c]alling a product ‘olive oil’ when it contains pomace or any other non-olive oil is barred by an array of olive-oil-making conventions, standard industry practices, international regulations, and federal and state laws.”

The plaintiffs allege in the new Capatriti olive oil class action lawsuit that “this case seeks to impose liability on KFM and on these individuals personally for their direct involvement in the unlawful scheme to pass off pomace oil as ‘Capatriti 100% Pure Olive Oil,” and also to “pierce the corporate veil” to show that “these individual defendants have looted KFI of its assets to attempt to frustrate the certified Class’s ability to collect on the judgment they will eventually obtain.”

The class action lawsuit says, “the mislabeling of Capatriti ‘100% Pure Olive Oil’ renders the product completely worthless. By mislabeling its products, Gourmet Factory dupes consumers into purchasing something that is not olive oil…[n]evertheless, Capatriti ‘100% Pure Olive Oil’ is labeled and sold as premium olive oil, and it commands a substantial price premium over other pomace products.”

As a result, consumers were allegedly “hit with a costly double-whammy: a premium purchase price for a worthless product.”

While most of the new Capatriti class action lawsuit was redacted, the plaintiffs allege that the company’s owners should be held personally liable for the alleged misbranding. “Through this lawsuit, Plaintiffs seek to recover, for themselves and all other similarly situated purchasers of Capatriti ‘100% Pure Olive Oil’ in the United States, a full refund of the purchase price,” state the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs are represented by Bursor & Fisher PA.

The new Capatriti Olive Oil Class Action Lawsuit is Joseph Ebin, et al. v. Kangadis Family Management LLC, et al., Case No. 1:14-cv-01324 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The bankruptcy case is In Re: Kangadis Food Inc., Case No. 8-14-72649 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York.

The original Capatriti 100% Pure Olive Oil Class Action Lawsuit is Ebin v. Kangadis Food Inc., Case No. 1:13-cv-02311-UA, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

UPDATE: A federal judge granted summary judgment in favor of Kangadis on Oct. 23, 2014, putting an end to the Capatriti olive oil class action lawsuit.