CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) – Lennie & Larry’s Inc., a California company accused of exaggerating the health benefits of the cookies and protein muffins it makes, has asked a federal judge to dismiss a class action lawsuit.
The plaintiffs - Lori Cowen, Rochelle Ibarrola and Ava Adames - contended in their complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division that the cookie maker had improperly labeled products by misrepresenting on packaging the amount of protein, calories, carbohydrates, fat and sugars the cookies contained.
The estimated amount of calories of the various cookie products ranged from 360 to 400 calories, carbohydrates from 48 to 56 grams and fats from 8 to 16 grams, the motion states.
The initial complaint referred specifically to one product, a Snickerdoodle - a cookie topped with cinnamon and sugar. A judge dismissed that complaint but allowed the plaintiffs to refile. A later amended complaint included other different cookie products.
The defendant, in its motion to dismiss filed June 30, argued that the plaintiffs reported only purchasing some of the cookie products and did not specify the size of the product purchased, nor the date upon which the purchases were made. The defendant claimed that the plaintiffs do not have proper legal standing in their suit because they sought claims for products they had not purchased.
In addition, the defendant states that the plaintiffs had sought a ruling attempting to sue in five states in which they did not live, including California, Missouri, New Jersey and New York. Only the states of Michigan, Illinois and Pennsylvania could apply in the suit because those were the states of residence of the complainants.
Each of the states had wide variances in their consumer laws, and so the multi-state nature of the complaint should be dismissed or stricken, the defendant states.
The defendant also argued that the plaintiffs’ complaint was vague and asked dismissal of the case because the plaintiffs had failed to make their case with suitable specific information, called “requisite particularity.”