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Aug 30, 2017

"Slack Fill" Litigation under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act: Save it for Summary Judgment

In two consecutive nearly identical opinions, a Missouri federal court ruling on food merchandisers’ motions to dismiss indicates that food labeling protections in Missouri strongly favor consumers, including in slack fill cases. (The term “slack fill” refers to the alleged use of over-sized packaging that could mislead a consumer into believing the package contains more product than is actually present.) In Bratton v. The Hershey Company and White v. Just Born, Inc., the Western District of Missouri refused to dismiss claims against candy manufacturers for selling under filled boxes of Reese’s Pieces and Whoppers (Hershey) and Hot Tamales and Mike and Ike’s (Just Born), thereby allowing both class actions to proceed to the discovery stage.  Hershey and Just Born are among several food merchandisers that have recently found themselves in court over claims by consumers that they are being cheated by slack filling.

In both cases, the plaintiffs allege deceptive packaging in violation of the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act (MMPA), in that the candies they purchased came in opaque, rigid, cardboard boxes containing slack-filled space, making plaintiffs think that they were a better value than smaller packages. The plaintiffs argue that consumers spend an average of 13 seconds making purchasing decisions, and that such a decision is heavily based on the product’s packaging. The lawsuits allege that between 29 to 41 percent of the candy boxes are empty, but nothing prevents the candy companies from reducing the box size or adding more candy. The plaintiffs also contend that slack-filled space serves no practical purpose and that they would not have purchased the products or would have paid less for them had they known the boxes were under filled. The plaintiffs seek “benefit of the bargain” damages, measured by the difference between the actual value of the products versus their value as represented.

In each case, the candy company asked the court to dismiss the plaintiff’s MMPA claim, arguing that these allegations are not enough to show that they violated the MMPA or that the plaintiff suffered an “ascertainable loss”, as required by the statute.  The candy companies contended that a reasonable consumer would readily realize the candy boxes are not filled to the top because their contents “audibly rattle.” The candy companies also said that it is common knowledge that most packaged goods contain some empty space, which is “necessary for efficient manufacturing and distribution.” The candy companies argued that consumers are not misled because information about the net weight of the contents, the number of pieces of candy per serving, and the number of servings in the box are clearly listed on the box.

These arguments did not persuade the court that the cases were subject to immediate dismissal. The court stated that whether a reasonable consumer would notice rattling in the 13 seconds it typically takes to make a purchase, and then be able to determine the amount of slack fill, are questions of fact that cannot be resolved before there has been fact discovery on these issues. In both opinions the court relied on the Missouri Court of Appeals decision in Murphy v. Stonewall Kitchen, LLC (see prior post) involving muffin mix labeled as “all natural” while disclosing in the ingredient list that it contained sodium acid pyrophosphate. There, the Missouri Court of Appeals said a reasonable consumer would expect the ingredient list to comport with the packaging. The court stated that the same reasoning could apply in both of these cases. Thus, the court decided that it cannot conclude at this stage of the litigation that the packaging is not misleading.

The message of these decisions is that reasonableness under the MMPA is an issue of fact that should be saved for summary judgment or trial.