Judge Refuses to Dismiss Nestle Raisinets Slack-Fill Class Action Lawsuit

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Earlier this month, a Missouri federal judge denied a request by Nestle USA Inc. to dismiss a class action lawsuit challenging the company’s alleged practice of underfilling packages of its Raisinets products.

Plaintiff Lahonee Hawkins says she paid $1.59 for a box of Raisinets at a drug store in Rolla, Mo. The chocolate-covered raisins were packaged in an opaque cardboard box so that she could not see how much of the product the box contained until after she made the purchase.

Hawkins says she “attached importance” to the Raisinets packaging size and claims that she was misled to believe that she was buying more of the product than she actually received.

According to the Raisinets class action lawsuit, the boxes of Raisinets are “uniformly under-filled” or “slack-filled.” She acknowledges that there are some instances in which slack-fill serves a purpose, but she claims that the slack-fill in the Raisinets packaging has no functional purpose.

Hawkins says she was harmed because the value of the Raisinets products she purchased was less than the value that was represented through the allegedly deceptive packaging. She says that as much of 45 percent of the Raisinets package is empty space that is not attributable to product settling or any functional purpose.

The Raisinets class action lawsuit asserts claims under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act and unjust enrichment.

Nestle sought to dismiss the Raisinets class action lawsuit, arguing Hawkins failed to state a claim under MMPA and that she does not have standing to seek injunctive relief. U.S. District Judge Henry Edward Autrey disagreed and found that Hawkins sufficiently alleged she was harmed by the alleged Raisinets slack-filling practice.

“Plaintiff has plausibly alleged, at minimum, that the packaging unfairly suggests the boxes contain more product than they actually do, or tends to or has the capacity to mislead consumers or to create a false impression, which is sufficient for purposes of alleging an unlawful practice under the MMPA,” Judge Autrey wrote in his order.

Consumers generally spend about 13 seconds when making a decision about which product to purchase in a store, the Raisinets class action lawsuit claims. Even though the package clearly labels the net weight, number of pieces of candy per serving and the number of servings per box, a reasonable consumer expects the package dimensions to accurately reflect the amount of product contained inside.

Judge Autrey notes that courts have allowed consumer protection lawsuits involving slack-fill allegations to survive motions to dismiss because they involve a finding of reasonableness, an issue of fact that cannot be determined at this stage of litigation.

The judge also found that Hawkins sufficiently alleged that she had suffered an ascertainable loss as a result of the allegedly deceptive Raisinets slack-fill packaging.

Hawkins is represented by David Steelman of Steelman Gaunt & Horsefield and by Naomi Spector and Scott Kamber of KamberLaw LLC.

The Nestle Raisinets Slack-Fill Class Action Lawsuit is Hawkins v. Nestle USA Inc., Case No. 4:17-cv-00205, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.