Judge Dismisses Costco VitaRain Class Action Lawsuit

Judge Dismisses Costco VitaRain Class Action Lawsuit

By John Curran

A federal judge has dismissed a false advertising class action lawsuit alleging that VitaRain – a Kirkland-brand vitamin-enhanced water product sold at Costco – was falsely labeled and misrepresented the drink’s ingredients, saying the plaintiff failed to show he had read the allegedly deceptive claims made on the product’s label. The defendants included Costco Wholesale, where VitaRain is sold, and manufacturer Niagara Bottling LLC.

Washington resident Harold Maple alleged in the class action lawsuit that the label for Kirkland VitaRain implied that the beverage would contain all-natural ingredients and not artificial chemicals, and that it would be demonstrably similar to VitaminWater. Having had his first complaint dismissed with the possibility to amend, Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson nixed the second attempt for several reasons:

1) In her decision, Peterson described the name “VitaRain” as “largely nonsensical,” adding that “a consumer could not literally believe that the beverage contains only pure rainwater, just as a reasonable consumer would not believe that it contains only vitamins.” The plaintiff could not compare it to VitaminWater, she added, because the name directly notes two potential ingredients.

2) Judge Peterson said there are no factual allegations substantiating the claim that VitaRain is either not nutritious or unhealthy. While a chemical analysis performed on Maple’s behalf noted the existence of sucralose, “synthetic” caffeine and acesulfame potassium, there is no factual allegation that any of those are harmful to the body, and in fact the VitaRain class action lawsuit “appears to assume throughout… that the drink VitaRain is not ‘nutritious’ or is ‘unhealthy’ without ever alleging adequate factual support,” Judge Peterson said.

3) To satisfy a pleading requirement regarding misrepresentation as part of a false advertising class action lawsuit, a plaintiff must demonstrate that there was information they used to make a buying decision that was inaccurate. Judge Peterson noted that Maple could not demonstrate that he had read labeling that was at the root of the case and therefore could not have suffered an injury.

Finally, certain labeling language highlighted in the VitaRain class action lawsuit cannot be the subject of a civil lawsuit because to do so would preempt the federal Food Drug and Cosmetics Act, which already governs how materials like synthetic caffeine, sucralose and acesulfame potassium, according to the motion to dismiss. Since Maple did not adequately plead that he read the label, Judge Peterson did not review this section of the motion to dismiss.

Maple is represented by Ewusiak & Roberts PA, Dearmin Fogarty PLLC and the Law Office of Scott E. Schutzman.

The Costco Kirkland VitaRain Water Class Action Lawsuit is Harold Maple v. Costco Wholesale Corporation, et al., Case No. 12-cv-05166, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Washington.

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