Starbucks Underfilled Iced Drinks Class Action Gets Dismissed

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A proposed class action lawsuit that accused Starbucks of misrepresenting the sizes of its cold drinks has been dismissed by a California federal judge.

The Starbucks underfilled drinks lawsuit, filed on behalf of plaintiff Alexander Forouzesh in California federal court, argued that Starbucks misled customers about the size of its iced drinks because it lists their sizes as the total liquid volume of drink and ice, not just the beverage itself.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleged that while Starbucks’ menu advertises a tall as 12 ounces and a grande as 16 ounces, customers were being defrauded because ice takes up approximately half of that volume.

Ice is neither beverage nor fluid, the complaint concluded.

Forouzesh sought to represent customers who had bought drinks at California Starbucks since 2006.

But presiding U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson disagreed and dismissed the case that accused the coffee chain of under-filling its iced drinks, saying the plaintiff had “not alleged any viable claims” against the company and that a “reasonable consumer” would know that the stated ounces for an iced drink, well, contain ice.

The judge also noted that “as young children learn, they can increase the amount of beverage they receive if they order ‘no ice’. If children have figured out that including ice in a cold beverage decreases the amount of liquid they will receive, the court has no difficulty concluding that a reasonable consumer would not be deceived into thinking that when they order an iced tea, that the drink they receive will include both ice and tea and that for a given size cup, some portion of the drink will be ice rather than whatever liquid beverage the consumer ordered.”

In addition, Judge Anderson noted that the company’s signage just lists the size of the cups in ounces, but does not say how much liquid will be in the cup.

“Starbucks has not stated that its Cold Drinks contain a specific amount of liquid. Instead, Starbucks has stated that its iced drinks, which contain some amount of liquid and some amount of ice, are offered for sale in cups of various sizes,” the judge wrote.

Further, the court document states that “The cups Starbucks uses for its cold drinks… are clear, and therefore make it easy to see that the drink consists of a combination of liquid and ice.”

While a win for Starbucks, the coffee giant is not out of the woods yet.

A multitude of other underfilled beverage lawsuits are still pending against it with a similar class action lawsuit filed in Illinois federal court that accuse the company of over-icing its cold beverages and another in the Northern District of California filed in March claiming that Starbucks knowingly and systematically underfills its hot lattes at least 25 percent smaller than the menu claims.

Earlier this month, Starbucks lost its bid to consolidate these various class action lawsuits alleging the company intentionally underfills lattes and other coffee drinks, including the lawsuit filed by Forouzesh into a multidistrict litigation in Washington state.

Starbucks argued that the cases warranted transfer due to their similarities.

Forouzesh is represented by Justin Farahi and Raymond M. Collins of Farahi Law Firm APC.

The Starbucks Iced Drinks Class Action Lawsuit is Alexander Forouzesh v. Starbucks Corporation, Case No. 2:16-cv-03830, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

UPDATE: On March 27, 2017, Alexander Forouzesh filed an appeal of the dismissal with the Ninth Circuit arguing that he had established a claim for breach of express warranty. Forouzesh argued that the case should be heard by a jury.