Niagara Bottling Class Action Says Spring Water Actually ‘Well Water’

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Four companies in the bottled water industry are fraudulently selling well water as spring water, according to a recent class action.

Plaintiff Stanley Frompovicz, the owner of a Pennsylvania business that extracts and sells spring water, says defendant Niagara Bottling and three other defendants are cheating consumers and competing unfairly by passing off a phony product.

The alleged mislabeling is a violation of federal and Pennsylvania consumer protection laws, he claims.

Frompovicz says defendant Jay Land, doing business under the name Pine Valley Farms Springs, extracts water from various non-spring sources and markets it to bottlers as spring water.

Frompovicz further claims defendants Niagara Bottling LLC, Ice River Springs Water Co. Inc., and Crossroads Beverage Group purchase non-spring water from Pine Valley, bottle it, and market it to consumers as spring water.

These defendants sell bottled water under the Niagara Bottling’s own brand and various store brands such as Redner’s and Wegmans. Labeling on these products indicates the water is partly sourced from New Ringgold, Pa. Frompovicz says Pine Valley Farms is the only permitted water source in New Ringgold.

According to Frompovicz, all the defendants have falsely mislabled water from wells and other non-spring sources as spring water, in an intentional effort to get consumers to pay a premium for it.

“To be considered ‘spring water,’ the water must derive ‘from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface of the earth,’” the bottled water class action reads, quoting federal regulations. It may be collected only at the spring, and before it is treated, it has to retain the same physical properties, composition and quality as the water that flows naturally to the surface of the earth.

In his spring water class action lawsuit, Frompovicz shows a copy of Pine Valley Farms’ permit to extract water, issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The permit appears to allow Pine Valley Farms to extract from a well source but not from a spring source.

Bottling and marketing spring water in compliance with these requirements is a resource-demanding business, Frompovicz claims. It requires a substantial investment to identify, develop and maintain a natural spring water site for commercial use, he claims.

Customers recognize a difference between spring water and other types of water, Frompovicz says, and they are willing to pay a premium for it out of a preference for the taste, the method of extraction, or the bottling.

For that reason, spring water typically sells at a higher price than other bottled water, Frompovicz says. It’s that higher price that the defendants are allegedly attempting to command for Niagara Bottling water and store-brand water by labeling it as spring water, he claims, without having to make the capital expenditure required to extract and produce genuine spring water.

Frompovicz proposes to represent a nationwide Class consisting of all persons in the U.S. who within the applicable statutory limitations period extract or bottle spring water for sale in the U.S.

He seeks a court injunction permanently barring the defendants from advertising or selling non-spring water as spring water. He also seeks awards of damages, disgorgement of related revenues, court costs, attorneys’ fees, and pre- and post-judgment interest on all amounts outstanding.

Frompovicz is represented by attorneys David J. Stanoch, Richard M. Golomb, Ruben Honik and Kenneth J. Grunfeld of Golomb & Honik PC.

The Spring Water Mislabeling Class Action Lawsuit is Frompovicz d/b/a Far Away Springs v. Niagara Bottling LLC, et al., Case No. 2:18-cv-00054, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.