SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – A California man and a New York state woman are suing a rice products company, alleging its packaging is misleading.
Eric Lankenau-Ray and Carmen Vargas, individually and for all others similarly situated, filed a class-action lawsuit May 17 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Mars Inc., whose Uncle Ben's Rice Products are the focus on the suit.
The suit states that Mars intentionally packages its Uncle Ben's rice products in boxes that contain up to 50 percent empty space. Relying on the size of the containers, the suit states, the plaintiffs paid a premium price for the products, which they would not purchase if they knew the containers were substantially empty.
The counts against Mars include violations of California's Unfair Competition Law, California's Consumer Legal Remedies Act and California's False Advertising Law; violation of New York's Deceptive Trade Practices Act; and negligent misrepresentation.
Laukenau-Ray and Vargas and the class seek orders that Mars violated those aforementioned laws, actual, compensatory, special and general damages, prejudgment interest, and other forms of equitable monetary relief, all to be determined by a jury.
They are represented by Abbas Kazerounian and Andrei Armas of Kazerouni Law Group APC in Costa Mesa, California and Joshua B. Swigart of Hyde & Swigart in San Diego.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Case number 3:16-cv-02660-JSC