Coca-Cola Delays Debated in Artificial Ingredients MDL

Plaintiffs in a large-scale multidistrict litigation over Coca-Cola marketing practices are alleging that the beverage behemoth is resorting to stall tactics to delay an artificial ingredient lawsuit.

Back in June, the Coca-Cola Company filed a motion asking for a “temporary halt of litigation” pending the outcome of a group of similar cases in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Coca-Cola argued that these cases were all directly related to the mass tort against Coke.

However, the plaintiffs filed a motion on July 5 arguing that the real motivation behind the cola conglomerate’s motion to “pause” the litigation was to delay discovery by more than a year while these other cases worked their way through the courts and appeals process.

Instead, the plaintiffs argue that this current Coca-Cola lawsuit is distinct and raises unique legal questions.

The motion states that the other cases hinge on issues of determining harm across different Classes of people who purchased various products with different labels.

From the text of the motion in the Coca-Cola lawsuit: “in contrast, here, plaintiffs claims involve one product, and it is undisputed that every container of Coca-Cola failed to disclose the presence of any artificial flavoring or chemical preservative.”

The plaintiffs’ motion points out that Coca-Cola Company’s legal team only raised this issue after the plaintiffs received class certification and began issuing discovery demands— requests for evidence in their lawsuit.

The plaintiffs’ motion further argues that these differences make the relevance of the other cases not particularly applicable to this Coca-Cola lawsuit.

This Coca-Cola lawsuit argues that Coke deceptively marketed their wares with the advertising claims of: “No artificial flavors. No preservatives added” printed on their bottles when the drink in question contained phosphoric acid. Phosphoric acid is an inorganic compound used as a food additive, the plaintiffs claim.

According to the Coca-Cola lawsuit, it is deceptive to market a product bearing phosphoric acid as being free of artificial flavors or added preservatives. While the compound can occur naturally, it is usually synthesized through industrial processes for use in the food industry, the lawsuit states.

The Coca-Cola Company argues that these other cases could greatly influence this artificial ingredients lawsuit.

Their motion states that many of the issues to be settled in these cases apply directly to this Coca-Cola lawsuit, and not waiting would force the court system to repeat discovery process instead of waiting for the Nine Circuit Court to clarify certain issues related to the standards surrounding class certification.

The Class Members for this Coca-Cola lawsuit could potentially include anyone who purchased Coca-Cola based on the allegedly-deceptive marketing claims.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Keith M. Fleischman and Joshua D. Glatter of Fleischman Law Firm PLLC and Don Barrett of the Barrett Law Group.

The Coca-Cola Artificial Ingredients Class Action Lawsuit is In Re: Coca-Cola Product Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation (No. II), Case No. 4:14-md-02555-JSW, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On July 19, 2016, the judge denied a motion by Coca-Cola to put the class action lawsuit on hold.

UPDATE 2: On June 16, 2017, soda drinkers asked a federal judge to certify their proposed Class in a lawsuit alleging Coca-Cola orchestrated a misleading marketing campaign about the preservatives and artificial flavors in its products.

UPDATE 3: On Feb. 14, 2020, a California federal judge partially certified a class action lawsuit filed against The Coca-Cola Co. by consumers who say Coke’s “no artificial flavors” labels are misleading.