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Friday, March 29, 2024

East West Tea Co. says deficiencies in suit over kombucha are 'significant,' seeks dismissal

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Tea in a cup | Morguefile

SAN DIEGO (Legal Newsline) – A tea company filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging it misled customers with its Yogi Green Tea Kombucha.

East West Tea Co. filed a memorandum of points and authorities of its motion to dismiss Feb. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

The tea company believes that only an "unreasonable and twisted understanding of the product package labeling could lead to the conclusion" that the teas contain probiotics, are fermented or have live beneficial bacteria or other organisms, according to the motion.

There are no claims on the product packaging that state that Yogi's Green Tea Kombucha or Green Tea Kombucha Decaf contain the probiotics or other living organisms, it stated.

The tea company claims the deficiencies in the complaint are significant and it moved to have the complaint dismissed for failure to state a claim.

The pictures on the product show that it is not a raw, liquid product and that it is a dry tea product, according to the memorandum.

The tea company claims it made no claims on the product's packaging that the plaintiff alleged in her complaint.

Knowing that the tea was prepared in boiling water and that it was a dry tea product on a shelf and not refrigerated, the plaintiff should have been aware she was purchasing a tea product did not contain what the tea company called "traditional kombucha" as she understood the term, the defendant states.

Sydney Cohen filed the class action lawsuit in November against the tea company claiming it violated the False Advertising Law and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act.

Cohen claimed she purchased the tea in 2015 believing the products contained organic kombucha. She later discovered that the tea bags did not contain any organic kombucha that she, and other customers, had been deceived.

The tea company misled consumers and falsely and deceptively sold their tea products, claiming they contained organic kombucha, she alleged.

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California case number 3:17-cv-02339-JLS-BLM

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