BELLEVILLE, Ill. (Legal Newsline) – An Illinois woman alleges a pancake mix is falsely advertised as containing all natural ingredients.
Shannah Burton filed a complaint on behalf of all others similarly situated in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Hodgson Mills Inc. alleging that the baked products distributor violated to Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act and unjust enrichment.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that in January, she purchased the defendant's Buckwheat Pancake Mix at after reviewing the "all natural" label. The plaintiff holds Hodgson Mills Inc. responsible because the defendant allegedly labeled and marketed the product as all natural when in fact it contains synthetic ingredient monocalcium phosphate and distributed the fraudulent mix throughout the state. She alleges that had she known the mix was not all natural, she would have not purchased it.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks an order certifying this case as a class action and appointing plaintiff and her counsel as representatives, award for compensatory damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorney's fees and costs and for such other and further relief.
She is represented by Matthew H. Armstrong of Armstrong Law Firm LLC in St. Louis; David C. Nelson of Nelson & Nelson, Attorney at Law PC in Belleville, Illinois; and Stuart L. Cochran of Cochran Law PLLC in Dallas. The defendant is represented by Charles J. Swartwout, Mark M. Favazza and David B. Schneidewind of Boyle Brasher LLC Belleville.
On Sept. 23, the defendant requested that the case be moved to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois on the grounds that the class number could easily exceed 100 persons and that the amount in the controversy exceeds $5 million.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois Case number 3:16-cv-01081