Plaintiff Seeks Cert. in Dole All Natural Class Action Lawsuit

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On Feb. 19, the plaintiff of an all natural class action lawsuit asked a federal court to certify an Arkansas consumer Class against Dole Packaged Foods LLC, alleging the company’s “all natural” fruit product claims are false because the products allegedly contain citric acid and ascorbic acid.

Plaintiff Christopher Kinney has asked an Arkansas federal judge to certify a Dole All Natural Class. The proposed Class Members of the Dole class action lawsuit would include consumers who have purchased certain Dole fruit products, such as Dole Tropical Fruit in 100 percent fruit juice and Dole Diced Peaches in 100 percent fruit juice, in the state of Arkansas since June 2009.

According to the Dole all natural class action lawsuit, Kinney claims that damages for the proposed Class could be calculated based on Dole’s sales data. This proposed damages model would allegedly not require evidence to prove damages for each individual Class Member, an argument that directly addresses the strict standards some federal courts have instituted in the wake of the 2013 Third Circuit case Carrera v. Bayer Corp. Because of the decision by the appeals court in this lawsuit, many courts have ruled that it is too difficult to determine which individuals belong to the proposed Dole All Natural Class  without the use of sales receipts or sales records.

“In this case, the certification of a class action is warranted where the misbranding provisions of the food product are identical and the conduct of the defendant to each class member is identical. There could not be a case more suitable for the certification of a class,” Kinney argues.

The plaintiff originally filed this Dole all natural class action lawsuit in June 2014, alleging that had he known certain Dole fruit products contained “unnatural substances,” like citric acid and ascorbic acid, he would not have bought the Dole fruit to begin with.

In response to the Kinney’s claims that Dole violated the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Dole has argued that citric acid and ascorbic acid, the allegedly unnatural substances contained in Dole fruit products, are natural contrary to the plaintiff’s claims.

In December of last year, Dole beat similar allegations raised in the class action lawsuit Chad Brazil v. Dole Food Co. Inc., which alleged all Dole frozen berry and mixed fruit products had been misrepresented by the company as containing “all natural” ingredients.

Dole argued that the all natural label only referred to the actual fruits included in the products; furthermore, reasonable consumers should have expected ascorbic and citric acid to be included in a natural ingredients list. The presiding U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh agreed with the company’s arguments and thus granted the defendants summary judgment.

Whether or not the latest Dole all natural class action lawsuit will meet the same fate will depend on the presiding federal judge’s forthcoming ruling.

Kinney is represented by Thomas P. Thrash and Marcus N. Bozeman of the Thrash Law Firm PA and Kenneth R. Shemin of Shemin Law Firm PLLC.

The Dole All Natural Class Action Lawsuit is Christopher Kinney v. Dole Packaged Foods LLC, Case No. 5:14-cv-05182, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.