SAN JOSE, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against soft drink conglomerate Dr. Pepper Snapple Group have moved to appoint interim lead counsel for their class action lawsuit.
The firm, Faruqi and Faruqi, is a prominent civil litigation and consumer class action law firm with offices in New York, California, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
The motion, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division on June 20, provided numerous reasons for the firm’s appointment and the appointment of lead interim counsel in general.
A need for a unified class voice and efficiency were two of the main reasons cited.
“(T)his cross motion is brought on the grounds that the appointment of lead interim class counsel will create one unified voice for plaintiffs and all putative class members, and will promote efficiency and conserve judicial resources,” the document said.
A desire to get the claim class certified and to protect divergent parties and interests were also discussed.
“This cross motion is based on the reasoning that appointment of lead interim class counsel is necessary to protect the interests of the proposed classes and progress efficiently toward class certification and trial.”
Regarding Faruqi and Faruqi, the firm’s handling of the claims involved up until the time the motion was filed was discussed heavily, with plaintiffs claiming that this better prepared them to conduct discovery.
“The Faruqii Firm’s prior thorough investigation into the claims will enable them to more than adequately handle this discovery and related motion practice,” the motion said.
The firm’s extensive experience litigating consumer actions and class actions was also discussed.
“The firm has over 20 years of experience litigating complex and class action cases involving antitrust, consumer, financial, corporate governance, and securities matters, and has served as lead or co-lead counsel in numerous high-profile class actions, which ultimately provided significant recoveries for investors, consumers and employees.”
The class action aims to combine two lawsuits related to the alleged quantity, or lack thereof, of ginger in the soft drink Canada Dry. The plaintiffs claim they were led to believe that the drink contained real ginger from the label “made with real ginger” that appeared on product packaging.
However, they allege the drink contains no ginger and are now suing the parent company, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, for “common law fraud, intentional and negligent misrepresentation, and unjust enrichment."
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, which has motioned to dismiss the claim, stated in the suit that there was no fraud or false advertising as “a product made ‘from’ real ginger means that real ginger was involved at ‘the starting point’ of the process,” Legal Newsline has previously reported.