We have posted several times on the disturbing trend of plaintiffs seeking to turn virtually every advertising claim, label statement, or good old fashioned “puffing” about a product into an expensive consumer fraud class action. It is with great interest that we note for the loyal readers of MassTortDefense those putative class actions in which the courts require plaintiffs to fully meet all the underlying elements of the claim, and apply some common sense to those elements.

Recently, a New Jersey federal court dismissed a putative class action that alleged that the manufacturer overstated a cereal’s ability to help lower cholesterol. Myers et al. v. General Mills Inc., No. 3:09-cv-02413 (D.N.J.).

Plaintiffs were consumers of Cheerios who resided in California, New Jersey, and New York, seeking to sue on behalf of all similarly situated individuals in the United States. Plaintiffs alleged General Mills deceived customers by marketing, advertising and promoting Cheerios as having the ability to prevent, mitigate, or treat high cholesterol. According to plaintiffs, defendant advertised that Cheerios could help lower a person’s cholesterol by 4% in six weeks when part of a healthy breakfast.  (We fondly remember the simple days of  “Big G, Little O. Get “Go” power with Cheerios!”)

Defendant moved for summary judgment, alleging that plaintiffs did not suffer any concrete or particularized injury and thus did not have standing to sue. See Koronthaly v. L’Oreal USA, Inc., 374 Fed. Appx. 257 (2010). To prove constitutional standing, a plaintiff must demonstrate (1) an injury-in-fact that is actual or imminent and concrete and particularized, not conjectural or hypothetical, (2) that is fairly traceable to the defendant’s challenged conduct, and (3) is likely to be redressed by a favorable judicial decision. Summers v. Earth Island Inst., 129 S.Ct. 1142, 1149 (2009).

Plaintiffs sought a full refund for all boxes of Cheerios that plaintiffs purchased during the relevant time-frame, on the typical theory that plaintiffs “would not have purchased Cheerios” but for defendant’s alleged deceptive practices. That assertion, however, did not comport with the testimony of the plaintiffs themselves.  Generally, the out-of-pocket theory applies only when the seller’s misrepresentations render the product essentially worthless. Plaintiffs admitted they purchased their Cheerios for crunchiness, taste, convenience, as well as to help lower their cholesterol. Moreover, Ms. Theodore, like many mothers, selected Cheerios due to its healthy, simple ingredients for her children. The contention that these plaintiffs would not have purchased Cheerios but for defendant’s alleged misrepresentation was also contradicted by the testimony that Mr. Myers, Ms. Acevedo and Ms. Theodore still eat or purchase Cheerios today, and for various reasons including the ingredients (Theodore), and the taste (Myers and Acevedo) and convenience.  As such, plaintiffs failed to adequately show that they were entitled to full purchase price refunds, especially when they ate the Cheerios after learning of the alleged issues, and are still eating them today for other reasons.

Plaintiffs alternatively sought the difference between what plaintiffs paid for Cheerios and the price that plaintiffs supposedly would have paid for Cheerios, if defendant had not engaged in the alleged misrepresentation; readers will recognize this as the other typical injury theory, the so-called benefit of the bargain approach. This theory of relief was equally flawed, said the court. Plaintiffs purchased a food product, and got the exact product with the exact ingredients listed on the label.  At most, plaintiffs simply claimed that their expectations of the cereal were disappointed. Dissatisfaction with a product, however, is not a quantifiable loss that can be remedied under the CFActs. Even a technical alleged violation of FDA food labeling regulations would not show that plaintiffs purchased boxes of Cheerios that did not contain the ingredients listed on the Cheerios boxes. And, again, several plaintiffs consumed all of the Cheerios purchased for various other reasons such as convenience and crunchiness. Plaintiffs therefore failed to adequately allege that they suffered “benefit of the bargain” damages.

The court granted summary judgment, including on the class allegations, which clearly failed on typicality and commonality.