BOSTON (Legal Newsline) – A Massachusetts man is suing a brewery over claims of deceptive practices when marketing certain of its beers.
Kieran O'Hara, individually and for all others similarly situated, filed a class-action lawsuit Dec. 15 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against Diageo-Guinness, USA and Diageo North America, alleging misrepresentation and unjust enrichment.
The defendants distribute, market, advertise, package and sell Guinness-brand beer products.
The suit claims the defendants advertise Guinness Extra Stout in a way that unfairly and deceptively misleads consumers into believing that all of the Guinness Extra Stout sold in the U.S. is brewed, sourced, bottled, and imported from Dublin, Ireland.
Specifically, the defendants represented in several places that all Guinness Extra Stout sold in North America is brewed at the historic St. James' Gate Brewery in Dublin, the suit claims.
In reality, according to the suit, some Guinness Extra Stout sold in the U.S. is brewed in and imported from Canada.
The suit states consumers like O'Hara and others in the class paid a premium for Guinness Extra Stout because of the defendants' misrepresentations.
O'Hara and others in the class seek compensatory damages, disgorgement, and other relief, together to exceed $5 million. They are represented by attorneys Kevin J. McCullough of Forrest LaMothe Mazow McCullough Yasi & Yasi in Salem, Massachusetts.
U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts Case number 1:15-CV-14139-MLW