A California federal court has denied class certification to a putative class of consumers who bought food products marketed as healthy, which allegedly were not because they contained hydrogenated oils and corn syrup. See Lucina Caldera, et al. v. The J.M. Smucker Co., No. 2:12-cv-04936 (C.D. Cal.).

On June 6, 2012, Plaintiff filed a consumer class action on behalf of individuals who purchased Defendant’s Uncrustables and Crisco Original and Butter Flavor Shortening products. Plaintiff alleged that the packaging of these products misled consumers into believing that they were healthful, when allegedly they were not because they contain trans fat and high fructose corn syrup. Based on these allegations, Plaintiff asserted the usual claims: (1) violation of Cal. Bus. &
Prof. Code §§ 17200, et seq. (“UCL”), unlawful prong; (2) violation of the UCL, fraudulent prong; (3)
violation of the UCL, unfair prong; (4) violation of California False Advertising Law (“FAL”), Cal.
Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17500, et seq.; (5) violation of California Consumer Legal Remedies Act
(“CLRA”), Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1750, et seq.; (6) breach of express warranty under California law; and (7) breach of implied warranty of merchantability under California law.

The court denied with prejudice the Plaintiff’s attempt to certify the proposed classes.

Under Rule 23(b)(3), a plaintiff must show that “the questions of law or fact common to class
members predominate over any questions affecting only individual members,” and that “a class action is superior to other available methods for fairly and efficiently adjudicating the controversy.”
Predominance “tests whether proposed classes are sufficiently cohesive to warrant adjudication by representation.” Amchem Prods., Inc. v. Windsor, 521 U.S. 591, 623 (1997). It focuses on the
relationship between the common and individual issues, requiring that the common issues be
qualitatively substantial in relation to the issues peculiar to individual class members. See Hanlon v. Chrysler Corp., 150 F.3d 1011, 1022 (9th Cir. 1998). The post-Dukes predominance inquiry
requires the court to consider whether other issues unique to individual class members are likely to render adjudication by representation impractical. See Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S. Ct. 2541, 2556 (2011).  Defendant here argued that Plaintiff failed to satisfy the predominance requirement because she had not identified any method of proving damages on a classwide basis, and thus determining damages would involve individualized inquiries that predominate over common questions.

The predominance requirement is satisfied only if Plaintiff is able to show that class damages stemmed from the defendant’s actions that created the legal liability. Leyva v. Medline Industries, Inc., 716 F.3d 510, 514 (9th Cir. 2013); see Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 133 S. Ct. 1426, 1435 (2013).  As the Supreme Court reemphasized in Comcast, in order for Rule 23(b)(3)’s predominance requirement to be satisfied, a plaintiff must bring forth a measurement that can be applied classwide and that ties the plaintiff’s legal theory to the impact of the defendant’s allegedly illegal conduct. Thus, after Comcast, the question is whether a plaintiff has met its burden of establishing that damages can be proven on a classwide basis. See In re Diamond Foods, Inc., Sec. Litig., 2013 WL 1891382, at *252 (N.D. Cal. May 6, 2013).

Here, the court concluded, the Plaintiff failed to meet this burden.  Plaintiff did not offer any method of proving damages on a classwide basis. Plaintiff merely stated that damages could be proven on a classwide basis based on Defendant’s California sales data. However, this is not a case where class members would necessarily be entitled to a full refund of their purchase price. Accordingly, defendant’s sales data alone would not provide sufficient information to measure classwide damages. The class sought restitution, Restitution based on a full refund would only be appropriate if not a single class member received any benefit from the products. See In re POM Wonderful LLC, 2014 WL 1225184, at *3 & n.2 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 25, 2014). Plaintiff failed to offer any evidence, let alone expert testimony, that damages could be calculated based on the difference between the market price and true value of the products.

As evidenced by named Plaintiff’s own deposition testimony, class members undeniably received some benefit from the products. Awarding class members a full refund would not account for these benefits conferred upon class members. Accordingly, classwide damages could not accurately be measured based on Defendant’s sales data alone. (Plaintiff’s Motion to certify the injunctive relief
classes also was denied without prejudice.)