Dunkin’ Donuts Customers Fight Dismissal of Angus Steak Class Action

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Dunkin’ Donuts consumers urged a New York federal judge to not dismiss their class action lawsuit alleging that the donut company’s Angus steak sandwiches contain ground beef and filler instead of actual steak.

Plaintiffs Chufen Chen, Elie Evanson, Sherry L. Johnson, David A. Bucholtz, and Michelle Beattie filed this class action lawsuit in June 2017 alleging that Dunkin Donuts’ Angus steak sandwiches did not contain Angus steak, but rather, contained a patty made of ground beef and filler.

Dunkin’ Donuts filed a plea for a judge to reject the complaint, arguing that the patty did qualify as steak. This week, Chen and others fought back, urging a New York judge to not reject the class action lawsuit.

The Dunkin’ Donuts Angus steak class action lawsuit claimed that Dunkin’ Donuts engaged in false advertising practices when marketing their steak sandwich, sharing “misleading information via television commercials, Internet, point of purchase advertisements and national print advertisements, all of which are intended to trick unsuspecting consumers.”

The Angus steak class action lawsuit zeroes in on a television advertisement claiming to show the sandwich. During the ad, an actor’s hands, sandwich breads, and text obscure the sandwich meat.

The Dunkin’ Donuts class action lawsuit claims that even if the sandwich meat were sufficiently visible, “cues as to the patties’ true contents would also not be available to consumers listening to the television or to their computer but looking elsewhere, or listening to the radio. Contrary to [Dunkin’ Donuts’] assertions, the product is not visible to the consumer in the store before purchase.”

Dunkin’ Donuts fired back by arguing that the sandwich’s ingredient list was available to consumers, so the sandwich’s advertising did not constitute false advertising. Chen and others argue that the television ads (and other ads) should be considered separately from the ingredient list, because the vast majority of consumers will only see the ads, while only a few very diligent and detail-oriented consumers will seek out the ingredient list. So, the Dunkin’ Donuts class action lawsuit plaintiffs claim that reasonable consumers would be deceived by the product’s advertising.

The Dunkin’ Donuts Angus steak sandwich class action lawsuit’s request to not dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims also involved a debate over the definition of a steak in an effort to determine that Dunkin’ Donuts’ beef patty did not technically qualify as a steak.

Chen and others cited numerous dictionary definitions of a “steak,” all of which provided a first (and in many cases a second) definition of a steak as being a single cut of beef. Only in a few dictionaries did a definition appear as a steak being a patty of ground beef, and in those cases, that definition appeared only as the much less common third or fourth definition.

The Dunkin’ Donuts customers are represented by John Troy of Troy Law PLLC.

The Dunkin’ Donuts Angus Steak Sandwich Class Action Lawsuit is Chufen Chen, et. al. v. Dunkin’ Brands Inc., Case No. 1:17-cv-03808-CBA-RER, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.