Mars Says Toss Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice Class Action Lawsuit

Mars Inc. says a class action lawsuit alleging the company misleads consumers about how much rice is in its packets of Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice should be dismissed because the plaintiff is unclear about the serving sizes.

Lead plaintiff Melissa Vigil alleges in her class action lawsuit that Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice packaging says consumers should expect to get two cups of rice from each microwavable packet, but in reality consumers only get 66 to 75 percent of what the package states.

According to Mars’ motion, the Uncle Ben’s class action should be dismissed because Vigil can’t seem to settle on a method to determine serving sizes. Further, says the food company, the plaintiff should rely on Food and Drug regulations regarding serving sizes, but does not.

“This case has been a needless exercise in windmill tilting,” says Mars in its motion to dismiss the class action.

Mars says that it uses FDA regulations to determine the serving size of Ready Rice and the regulations state that 140 grams of pre-cooked rice should fill one cup.

“The FDA regulations give Mars flexibility to determine Serving Size in any permissible manner and there is no dispute that the methods used by Mars and Mars’s experts are both permitted by the regulations and confirm the stated Serving Size,” argues Mars in its motion to dismiss the class action lawsuit.

The various amended class action complaints rely on three different methods to determine serving size, alleges Mars. Further, the plaintiff’s methods are not based on the FDA regulations.

“As Mars has argued from the start, 140 grams of Uncle Ben’s rice fills one cup as required under FDA regulations,” contends Mars in its motion to dismiss. “This measurement can easily be confirmed in any number of ways, including by simply placing 140 grams of Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice Original Enriched Long Grain White Rice into a one-cup measuring cup. Plaintiff has steadfastly refused to conduct this simple measurement.”

The class action plaintiff is also not planning to purchase Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice in the future, argues Mars in its motion to dismiss, so there is no point in the injunction requested by the plaintiff.

Mars lost an earlier motion to dismiss the class action when U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria ruled that the plaintiff had presented a clear argument for why consumers would be misled into thinking Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice contained more food than it does based on the packaging.

The class action lawsuit concerns Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice, a microwavable pre-cooked rice that can be prepared in 90 seconds. The plaintiff is seeking damages, restitution, disgorgement of profits, and reimbursement of attorneys’ fees.

Vigil is represented by attorneys Jeffrey Krinsk, Trenton Kashima, and William Restis of Finkelstein & Krinsk LLP.

The Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice Class Action Lawsuit is Melissa L. Vigil v. Mars Inc., Case No. 3:16-cv-03818, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.