Parties Settle Vitaminwater Deceptive Marketing Class Action Lawsuit

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Glaceau Vitaminwater, which is owned by the Coca Cola Company, has agreed to settle the class action lawsuit accusing the company of deceptively marketing the popular sports drink.

Lead plaintiffs in a series of putative class actions filed from September until December 2010 accused the company of misleading consumers about the content of the beverages and failing to include the amount of calories of a whole bottle on the labeling. The Vitaminwater deceptive marketing class action lawsuit was consolidated into multidistrict federal litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Under the terms of the class action settlement, if approved, the Coca Cola Company will include the total number of calories per bottle on the packaging and no longer include statements that “vitamins + water = what’s in your hand,” “vitamins + water = all you need,” that Vitaminwater is “specially formulated to support optimal metabolic function with antioxidants that may reduce the risk of chronic disease and vitamins necessary for the generation and utilization of energy from food,” and seven other statements.

“The relief obtained by this Settlement includes the injunctive relief Plaintiffs sought in their original class action complaints and in the Consolidated Amended Class Action Complaint,” said the defendant’s motion in support of the settlement agreement. The filing also outlined the plan to notify prospective call members, “The Notice Plan consists of: (i) a press release being issued; (ii) the publication of the Summary Notice in the USA Today, and twice in the Virgin Islands Daily News; (iii) a multi- platform Facebook campaign; and (iv) a Class Settlement Website that will contain the Long- Form Notice, other relevant settlement documents and information regarding the Court approval process.”

“Approval of a class action settlement involves a two-step process,” said the court filing, “(1) entry of a ‘preliminary approval’ order and (2) entry of a ‘final approval’ order after notice of the settlement has been provided to the class and a hearing has been held to consider the fairness of the proposed settlement.” Attorneys for the plaintiffs also wrote in their filing for preliminary approval of the agreement that “Plaintiffs and plaintiffs’ counsel believe that the injunctive relief obtained by this settlement is an excellent result and are satisfied that the proposed settlement is within the range of what might be found fair, reasonable and adequate.”

Negotiations regarding the proposed settlement took more than six months. “Only after class counsel was satisfied that the best recovery had been negotiated for the class—indeed, almost all of the relief initially sought by the class—did the parties negotiate payment of attorney’s fees and costs,” the plaintiff’s attorney wrote in their filing.

A class action lawsuit representing Vitaminwater consumers in Ohio, Illinois, Florida, Missouri and the Virgin Islands is still pending. In order to approve the class action settlement, class representatives and class counsel for these jurisdictions would have to be approved by the court as well.

Because the proposed Vitaminwater class action settlement only offers injunctive relief and no monetary benefits, it is possible that some Class Members will object to the deal. Keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter for the latest updates. You can also mark this article as a “Favorite” using your free Top Class Actions account to receive notifications when this article is updated.

The lead plaintiff of the settling class is represented by Richard S. Wayne, Joseph J. Braun of Strauss Troy.

The Vitaminwater Deceptive Marketing Class Action Lawsuit is Voltz, et al. v. The Coca Cola Company and Energy Brands Inc., Case No. 1:10-cv-00879, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

UPDATE: An Ohio federal judge preliminarily approved the Vitaminwater class action settlement on Sept. 24, 2014. The final fairness hearing will be held on Dec. 2, 2014.

UPDATE 2: Details about the Vitaminwater class action settlement are now available!