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Dunkin’ Donuts products don’t actually contain the natural-sounding ingredients in their names, according to a new false advertising class action lawsuit.
Defendant Dunkin’ Donuts markets more than a dozen doughnuts and other pastries with the terms “blueberry” or “maple” in their names, according to plaintiff Hrach Babaian of California. These products don’t actually contain any blueberries, maple syrup or maple sugar, Babaian claims, making them deceptively mislabeled.
Babaian accuses Dunkin’ Donuts of purposely naming these doughnuts with ingredients they don’t contain so that they will be more appealing to consumers. The company has known from the start of distribution and sale of these products that they did not contain blueberries or maple, Babaian claims.
Yet Dunkin’ Donuts continues to market these allegedly mislabeled donuts on the premise that the words “blueberry” and “maple” in their names make consumers more likely to purchase them, according to this false advertising class action lawsuit.
Babaian says Dunkin’ Donuts intentionally misleads consumers so they will buy a product they would not have bought otherwise. Furthermore, the company allegedly conceals the deception by adding artificial flavors to their products to mimic the flavor of the real ingredients in the products’ names, Babaian claims.
Babaian says he bought a Blueberry Cake Donut and a Maple Frosted Donut from a Dunkin’ Donuts this past May. In choosing those particular doughnuts, he says he relied on the shop’s signage that described them – none of which disclosed that the doughnuts he bought did not contain any blueberries or real maple ingredients.
In addition to Babaian’s claims, Dunkin’ Donuts has been facing other accusations of false advertising. In April 2017, the company reached a settlement with plaintiff Jan Polanik over allegations that the company had been passing off margarine as real butter.
Another plaintiff took action against Dunkin’ Donuts within the past few weeks over the company’s “Angus Steak and Egg Sandwich.” Plaintiff Chufen Chen says the sandwich contains no actual Angus steak but instead is based on an ordinary hamburger patty made of lower-quality meat.
Babaian’s Dunkin’ Donuts class action lawsuit lists the following 14 specific Dunkin’ Donuts products that he says are deceptively mislabeled:
- Blueberry Butternut Donut
- Blueberry Cake Donut
- Blueberry Crumb Cake Donut
- Glazed Blueberry Munchkin
- Frosted Maple Crème Donut
- Glazed Apple Maple Donut
- Maple Apple Croissant Donut
- Maple Crème Donut
- Maple Crème Drizzle Donut
- Maple Crumb Cake Donut
- Maple Frosted Coffee Roll
- Maple Frosted Donut
- Maple Frosted Sprinkles Donut
- Maple Vanilla Crème Donut
Babaian seeks to represent a plaintiff Class that includes all persons in the U.S. who purchased any of the above Dunkin’ Donuts products. He also proposes two subclasses of California Class Members for purposes of bringing claims under California law.
He is asking the court to order Dunkin’ Donuts to stop using the words “blueberry” and “maple” in the names of its doughnuts. He also seeks an award of actual, consequential and statutory damages, restitution, court costs and attorney’s fees, all with pre-judgment interest.
Babaian is represented by attorney Hovanes Margarian of The Margarian Law Firm.
The Dunkin’ Donuts False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Hrach Babaian v. Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc., Case No. 2:17-cv-04890, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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415 thoughts onDunkin’ Donuts Class Action Challenges ‘Blueberry’ and ‘Maple’ Doughnuts
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You do realize that regardless of what type or brand of food something is, especially though when it comes to sweets of any kind, that if the name contains a name of another food such as maple, blueberry, chocolate, strawberry, etc, it’s usually because it is made to taste like those other foods, and only if the company specifically markets the products as containing a 100% pure and natural variety of whatever food it gets it’s flavor from, or if they claim every ingredient to be 100% natural, or claim to have no artificial ingredients and is proven that those 100% pure, natural, etc… claims to be fraudulent in someway, it is then and only then that any lawsuits charging a company with making fraudulent claimsabout their products can be seriously considered by a lawyer to be filed and to be heard by a competent judge, and as far as this Dunkin’ Donuts nonsense, I personally have seen no commercials or other advertisements making claims of those flavors having not been created artificially, and yes I know that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any, but if any of these people or lawyers involved with this class action suit actually want it to succeed then they have to provide proof that the marketing used made actual statements specifying the purity or natural state of the ingredients, then provide chemical and other analyses that prove the specific ingredients aren’t as pure or as natural as stated by marketing, I personally believe that this class action suit is a farce meant to do nothing but to defame Dunkin’ Donuts in hopes of moving some of there consumers to their competitors as well as possibly a misguided attempt by the plaintiffs to “become famous”, or to make some “quick cash” or to at least get “free food” in the end, I personally believe that this entire lawsuit is a complete joke and should by any and all courts be treated as such, but that is just my opinion, but I truly view this as an attempt by opportunists looking to rip off Dunkin’ Donuts simply because Dunkin’ Corporate can afford to settle. I find this distasteful and immoral even if Dunkin’ can afford to just brush off the loss, I’m definitely no fan of corporations, but suing a corporation just out of spite, or just simply because the company can afford to settle is still just plain wrong, but if Dunkin’ did create fraudulent advertisements, then they do deserve whatever they have coming to them.
I have acid in my stomach after eating donuts. I stop buying there.
m0520pivaral@yahoo.com
That’s a sounds more like a medical condition, most likely GERD or other digestive disorder, odds are Dunkin’ Donuts products aren’t the only brand of donuts, or even type of food for that matter, that cause you’re stomach to overproduce the acid naturally created by the human stomach.
Btw, if you do have GERD or something else causing overproduction of stomach acids, then you’d be wise to keep away from types of foods such as citrus fruits and juices, most berries and their juices, as well as chocolate products, and other acidic foods.
We have bought the maple and the blueberrie crumb cakes donuts many times and many other kinds also. How we trust in DD to make our donuts from real food and not use fake food that can harm us!
Fell in love with the blueberry cake donut…So dissapointing. How can I be added?
The case is still moving through the courts and has not yet reached a settlement. Claim forms are usually not made available to consumers until after a court approved settlement is reached. We recommend you sign up for a free account at TopClassActions.com and follow the case. We will update the article with any major case developments or settlement news! Setting up a free account with Top Class Actions will allow you to receive instant updates on ANY article that you ‘Follow’ on our website. A link to creating an account may be found here: https://topclassactions.com/signup/. You can then ‘Follow’ the article above, and get notified immediately when we post updates!
I buy the donut labeled Blueberry sometimes 6 days a week. Can i get added to lawsuit?
The case is still moving through the courts and has not yet reached a settlement. Claim forms are usually not made available to consumers until after a court approved settlement is reached. We recommend you sign up for a free account at TopClassActions.com and follow the case. We will update the article with any major case developments or settlement news! Setting up a free account with Top Class Actions will allow you to receive instant updates on ANY article that you ‘Follow’ on our website. A link to creating an account may be found here: https://topclassactions.com/signup/. You can then ‘Follow’ the article above, and get notified immediately when we post updates!
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I buy those donuts all of the time, where can I make a claim?
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