Judge Denies Request to Trim Claims from Carrington Coconut Oil Class Action

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Last week, a California federal judge denied a request by the Carrington Tea Company LLC to dismiss consumers’ claims for injunctive relief from a class action lawsuit accusing it of misrepresenting its coconut oil as healthy.

U.S. District Judge Michael M. Anello found that the coconut oil class action lawsuit adequately alleged that plaintiffs Elizabeth Zemola and Matthew Beaumont would purchase the Carrington Farms coconut oil product in the future if the product is reformulated to match the label’s claims that the coconut oil is a healthy alternative to butter and other types of cooking oils.

The judge found that these claims were sufficient to establish standing.

Zemola and Beaumont allege that Carrington violated California’s consumer protection laws by misleadingly marketing and labeling its coconut oil products as “healthy,” including misleading claims on some of its products that “[c]oconut oil has been described by nutritionists as, ‘The healthiest oil on earth.'”

The Carrington class action lawsuit alleges that coconut oils are high in saturated fat. The plaintiffs point to reports from the Institute of Medicine which found that “there is ‘no safe level’ of saturated fat intake.”

Other studies reportedly found that coconut oil consumption has a negative effect on a person’s good cholesterol, and is worse for increasing bad cholesterol than beef fat and safflower oil.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has also reportedly issued guidance encouraging consumers to reduce their intake of saturated fats by replacing tropical oils such as coconut oil with vegetable oil, the Carrington Farms coconut oil class action lawsuit alleges.

Zemola and Beaumont assert that 12 out of the 14 grams of fat in a serving of Carrington Farms coconut oil are saturated fat. They claim that the advertising on Carrington’s coconut oil products is “false and misleading because the Carrington Farms Extra Virgin Coconut Oil is actually unhealthy due to its high saturated fat content.”

According to the judge’s order, “Beaumont claims that he would like to purchase coconut oil products in the future; he shops at stores that sell the products; and absent injunctive relief, in the future he may rely on Defendant’s mislabeling to conclude that the products have been reformulated or otherwise proven to be healthy, when in fact they have not.”

Carrington argues that these allegations by Beaumont are “implausible” because it contradicts his theory of liability that coconut oil products are unhealthy. Judge Anello pointed to a recent determination by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that a consumer can seek injunctive relief if they claim they might purchase a product again if they believe it has been improved.

The judge acknowledged Carrington’s argument that it is impossible to reformulate a single-ingredient product, but noted that “the Court must assume the truth of Plaintiffs’ allegations at this stage of the proceedings.”

Zemola and Beaumont are represented by Paul K. Joseph of The Law Office of Paul K. Joseph PC and Jack Fitzgerald, Trevor M. Flynn and Melanie Persinger of The Law Office of Jack Fitzgerald PC.

The Carrington Farms Coconut Oil Class Action Lawsuit is Zemola, et al. v. Carrington Tea Company LLC, Case No. 3:17-cv-00760, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.