CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) - The lawsuit over TGI Friday's-brand mozzarella stick snacks can proceed, as a federal judge has ruled it's possible a reasonable consumer was harmed when they expected mozzarella cheese but got cheddar instead.
Chicago federal judge Robert Dow ruled Nov. 28 that the proposed class action case can continue against the maker of the bagged snacks, Inventure Foods. However, he dismissed TGI Friday's as a defendant, as it was not involved in the production of the sticks. It sold the rights to its branding to Inventure.
Plaintiff Amy Joseph adequately alleged reasonable consumers relied on the "mozzarella" description and were harmed when they purchased a product made with cheddar, Dow wrote.
"While Defendants are correct that the packaging does not explicitly state that it 'contains mozzarella cheese,' Defendants' interpretation of the product is not the only reasonable interpretation of the product's packaging," the ruling says.
"As Plaintiff suggests, another reasonable interpretation is that a product labelled 'Mozzarella Stick Snacks' with an image of mozzarella sticks would bear some resemblance to mozzarella sticks, which presumably contain some mozzarella cheese."
Dow's decision asks why market a product without mozzarella cheese under the TGIF logo, since the business has a "strong correlation to the hot appetizer mozzarella sticks."
The defendants tried to attack the manner in which the case was brought. They said Joseph was a frequent filer of class actions (at least eight in Illinois state and federal courts in the decade prior to suing over mozzarella sticks) and claimed she only bought the snack so she could file suit.
“Considering Plaintiff’s proclivity for filing class action lawsuits, the timing of her alleged purchase of the subject product is particularly suspect as it was made approximately one month after a similar class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York,” the motion to dismiss said. “That lawsuit also involves TGIF-brand mozzarella stick snacks.”
Joseph has teamed with Zimmerman Law Offices for at least three class actions. The firm also sued over the TGIF-brand potato skin snacks.
The lawsuit alleged the product did not contain skins and was settled before progressing to a point in which a class was certified. TGIF was dismissed as a defendant because it merely sold its name as branding to Inventure.