McDonald’s Extra Value Meal Class Action Lawsuit Dismissed

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McDonald’s dodged a class action lawsuit alleging the chain deceived consumers with supposed value meals that cost more than the price of the individual components of the meal.

Lead plaintiff Kelly Killeen alleged in her class action lawsuit that she and others ended up paying more for a “value” meal at McDonald’s than they would have if they purchased each item in the meal a la carte.

The McDonald’s class action lawsuit alleged that calling the bundled items “Extra Value Meals” constituted false advertising and violated Illinois law.

U.S. District Court Judge Elaine E. Bucklo disagreed with the plaintiffs, however, dismissing the McDonald’s value meal class action lawsuit. The judge pointed out that the prices of both the value meals and the individual items are available to customers when they purchase their food.

“This is not a case in which consumers would have to consult an ingredients list or other fine print to determine whether prominent images or labels a defendant uses in connection with its product accurately reflect the product’s true nature or quality,” noted the judge in dismissing the McDonald’s value meal class action lawsuit.

Killeen alleged that she filed the McDonald’s class action lawsuit after purchasing a Sausage Burrito (2) Extra Value Meal and then realizing she paid $5.08 for the food, when she could have paid $4.97 if she ordered each of the items in the meal separately.

The class action lawsuit claimed that McDonald’s advertising duped consumers into thinking that “Extra Value Meals” were a deal, but, in actuality, they end up paying more. The plaintiff alleged that the marketing scheme amounted to a violation of Illinois consumer protection laws, however, the judge disagreed.

“Plaintiff’s theory has superficial appeal: common experience favors her assertion that consumers expect to pay less for items bundled together and billed as a ‘value’ package than they would pay if they purchased the items separately,” noted the judge. “But even assuming defendants’ marketing of the Extra Value Meal had a tendency to mislead consumers in this respect, Illinois law is clear that where other information is available to dispel that tendency, there is no possibility for deception.”

Judge Bucklo pointed out that, like most fast food restaurants, McDonald’s locations include both value meals and the price of individual items on menus posted near the cash registers.

“Understandably, plaintiff may not have wished to take the time to compare prices, but there is no question that doing so would have dispelled the deception on which her claims are based,” Judge Bucklo stated.

Although the McDonald’s value meal class action lawsuit pointed out that food makers have been held responsible for misleadingly labeling food while including accurate information in small print, the judge dismissed the argument.

“Here, a straightforward, price-to-price comparison based on information available at the point of purchase would unequivocally dispel any misleading inference that could be drawn from the name ‘Extra Value Meal,’” the judge noted.

Killeen is represented by Samuel A. Shelist of Shelist Law Firm LLC.

The McDonald’s Extra Value Meal Class Action Lawsuit is Killeen v. McDonald’s Corporation, et al., Case No. 1:17-cv-00874, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.