Orgain Class Action Says Vegan Nutrition Shake’s Protein is Misleading

Orgain shakes allegedly contain less protein than is advertised, according to a recent class action filed in California federal court.

Plaintiffs Alice Rubio and LaTisha Satchell say they purchased Orgain shake products, assuming that they contained the advertised 16 grams of protein.

However, private testing conducted by plaintiffs’ counsel reportedly showed that Orgain shakes only contain between 13.33 and 14.98 grams of protein.

Orgain Organic and Vegan Nutrition shakes are ready to drink protein shakes which are advertised as containing 16 grams of protein per serving.

The representation that Orgain shakes contain 16 grams of protein is displayed “prominently” both on the front and back of the product label. These representations allegedly induce reasonable consumers to purchase Orgain protein shakes.

Rubio and Satchell argue that protein content is an integral part of the decision to purchase a protein shake such as Orgain shakes.

Consumers allegedly rely on package representations when making purchasing decisions and are unlikely to independently confirm representation as plaintiffs did.

Under this logic, plaintiffs and members of the proposed Class were harmed because they paid a premium price for Orgain shakes based on the company’s representations and may not have paid full price for the products or purchased them at all had they been aware of the true nature of the products.

The Orgain vegan protein shake class action lawsuit seeks compensation for the misbranded food products based on these alleged damages.

“Misbranded food has no economic value and is worthless as a matter of law, and purchasers of misbranded food are entitled to a refund of the purchase price of the misbrand food,” the Orgain shake class action argues.

The Orgain class action lawsuit argues that the California company knew or should have know that its representations regarding protein content were false yet continued to market their products as containing 16 grams of protein. Despite this, the company allegedly continued to sell their products with false representations.

“Defendant knew or should have known through the exercise of reasonable care that its ’16g Protein’ representation and other misrepresentations for the RTD Products were false, misleading and/or deceptive,” the Orgain protein shake class action lawsuit states.

Plaintiffs claim that the deceptive representation regarding Orgain protein content is in violation of several state and federal laws including: California’s False Advertising Law, California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, California’s Unfair Competition Law, New York business law, and the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

The Orgain vegan protein shake class action lawsuit also brings claims of breach of warranty, unjust enrichment, negligent misrepresentation, and fraud.

The plaintiffs seek to represent a Class of all consumers who purchased Orgain products within the last six years. They also seek to represent two subclasses comprised of the same consumers from California and New York.

The Orgain shake class action lawsuit seeks actual damages, restitution, disgorgement, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

Plaintiffs are represented by L. Timothy Fisher, Frederick J. Klorczyk III, and Scott A. Bursor of Bursor & Fisher PA.

The Orgain Vegan Nutrition Shake Class Action Lawsuit is Rubio, et al. v. Orgain Inc., Case No. 5:18-cv-02237-MWF-SHK, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.