Uncle Ben’s Class Action Says Boxes of Rice Are Only Half-Filled

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A proposed class action lawsuit has been filed in California federal court alleging Mars Inc. misleadingly packages its Uncle Ben’s rice products.

Plaintiffs Eric Lankenau-Ray, a California resident and Carmen Vargas, a New York resident, filed their class action lawsuit stating that Mars has been “intentionally packaging its Uncle Ben’s rice products (Rice Product/s) in box containers that contain up to 50% empty space.”

Both plaintiffs claim they purchased Uncle Ben’s rice because they believed it to be high quality and paid a premium price as a result.

After buying the Uncle Ben’s rice products, plaintiffs say they expected to find a full container of rice but found that half of the packaging contained empty space, or slack-fill.

“On information and belief, consumers have relied upon, and are continuing to rely upon, the size of the Rice Products containers as the basis for making purchasing decisions. Consumers believe that the Rice Products are substantially full because they cannot see the actual contents of the non-transparent container,” the complaint states.

The plaintiffs claim that they would not have paid a premium price or would not have purchased the products at all if they had known the boxes contained so much empty space.

“Had Plaintiffs known about the slack-fill at the time of purchase, they would not have bought Defendant’s Products,” the complaint reads.

According to the proposed class action lawsuit, the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) prohibits slack-fill of products.

The language of the FDCA says that products may be considered misbranded if the following condition is present: “A container that does not allow the consumer to fully view its contents shall be considered to be filled as to be misleading if it contains nonfunctional slack-fill. Slack-fill is the difference between the actual capacity of a container and the volume of product contained therein.”

The lawsuit claims that there’s no functional reason to have the additional space within the packaging.

“Defendant intentionally incorporated non-functional slack-fill in its packaging of Rice Products in order to mislead the consumers, including Plaintiffs and members of the Class,” the complaint asserts.

Lankenau-Ray and Vargas have brought forth multiple counts against Mars including violations of New York’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act, violations of California’s False Advertising Law, California’s Unfair Competition Law and California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act as well as negligent misrepresentation.

The plaintiffs are seeking to represent a nationwide Class of consumers who purchased Uncle Ben’s rice that included non-functional slack-fill, as well as a New York and California subclass of such consumers. Hundreds of thousands of members are expected to make up the Class.

In addition to seeking class certification, the plaintiffs are also seeking actual, compensatory, general and special damages, injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees and costs as well as any other relief deemed just and proper by the court.

The plaintiffs are represented by Abbas Kazerounian and Andrei Armas of Kazerouni Law Group and Joshua B. Swigart of Hyde & Swigart.

The Uncle Ben’s Rice Slack-Fill Class Action Lawsuit is Eric Lankenau-Ray, et al. v Mars Inc., Case No. 4:16-cv-2660, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.