Class Action Lawsuit Says Emeril Lagasse Knives are Counterfeit

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A California man has filed a class action lawsuit against the Home Shopping Network, alleging that the “Emeril” brand kitchen knives that it sells are “counterfeit,” and not high-quality products made in Germany as advertised.

Plaintiff Allen Moshiri also included Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc.; Emeril’s Homebase, LLC; and Emerils.com in the class action lawsuit, alleging that the knives, named after the celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, are falsely advertised.

“Defendants have promoted, advertised and sold various kitchen knives and knife sets under the ‘Emeril’ brand name that defendants represented were manufactured in Solingen, Germany — an area world famous for producing high quality cutlery,” the class action lawsuit states.

The “Solingen” stamp on knives is similar to the name Champagne on a bottle of sparkling wine; the cutlery must meet “extremely high and specific standards of manufacture,” the Emeril knife class action lawsuit says. It is referred to as the “Solingen Decree.”

“Contrary to defendants’ representations, these knives and knife sets were manufactured in China. The knives and knife sets in question . . . bear on one side of the blade the ‘Emeril’ mark and the words ‘Solingen Germnay’ but on the other side of the blade is stamped the word ‘China,'” Moshiri adds.

The Emeril kitchen knife class action lawsuit claims that other consumers have complained that Emeril knives “rust easily, lose their edge, and that the blades chip and break easily.”

Moshiri says he purchased a five-inch ‘santoku’ Japanese chef’s knife through the Home Shopping Network after hearing advertisements about the knife. He claims that shortly after he received the knife that it began to rust and dull. He claims that if he had known the truth about the quality of the knife and where it was made, he would not have bought it.

The California man claims he was injured by the fact that he bought a faulty product and by the loss of money he paid for the knife.

He says that all the defendants — Home Shopping Network, Martha Stewart’s company, Emeril’s Homebase and Emeril.com — promote, advertise, and sell the knives in question.

Martha Stewart’s Omnimedia bought out Emeril’s companies and products in February 2008 for $500 million, including the Emeril brand knives, which are also sold on the Home Shopping Network.

An injunction was filed against Martha Stewart, Emeril Lagasse and the Home Shopping Network in December 2012 in a Florida federal court on behalf the Chamber of Commerce and Commerce Wuppertal-Solingen-Remscheid, a “City of Knives” trade group with similar allegations as Moshiri’s class action lawsuit — that the companies promoted, advertised, and sold products with the German city’s name even though they were not made there.

According to the class action lawsuit, the city has been known for producing high quality knives for eight centuries.

Moshiri’s charges against the defendants include a violation of California’s false advertising law, California’s unfair competition law, and California’s consumer legal remedies act.

His class action lawsuit is seeking to represent “all consumers in the United States who purchased from defendants a counterfeit knife or knives that were represented by defendants as having been manufactured in Germany but that in fact were manufactured in China,” at any time within the past four years.

The plaintiffs are represented by Farrah Mirabel of the Law Offices of Farrah Mirabel and J. Kirk Donnelly of the Law Offices of J. Kirk Donnelly APC.

The Emeril Kitchen Knife Class Action Lawsuit is Allen Moshiri v. HSN iLLC, et al., Case No. 3;14-cv-01034, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: Martha Stewart and HSN filed a motion on May 7, 2014 to dismiss the proposed Emeril knife class action lawsuit.