LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) – Corporate giants involved in the chocolate trade are asking a federal judge to toss a class action lawsuit that alleges they overlook child and slave labor in West Africa.
Starbucks, Mars Wrigley and Quaker Oats filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit in May that claim no reasonable consumers would be misled by their packaging.
Lori Myers’ lawsuit says the companies put labels on their products that would lead customers to believing the chocolate is produced ethically despite a history of child and slave labor in the harvesting of cocoa in West Africa.
“Attempting to fabricate a duty where there is none, Plaintiff isolates and distorts select text from certain DOVE Dark Chocolate labels and criticizes the seal of the Rainforest Alliance, an international nonprofit organization working to solve environmental and social challenges across the globe,” Mars Wrigley wrote in its motion.
That label says Mars Wrigley buys its cocoa from Rainforest Alliance-certified farms so that its production can be traced from farm to factory.
“Plaintiff does not (and cannot) allege this limited statement is untrue,” the motion says.
“She cannot stretch its meaning beyond its plain language by expanding it to all cocoa sourced from all farms in West Africa or defining ‘traceable’ to mean the absence of deforestation, poverty and child and forced labor.”
Reasonable consumers don’t believe the Rainforest Alliance can single-handedly ensure the cocoa is harvested free from those problems.
In response, Myers’ lawyers at Schonbrun Seplow note that Mars Wrigley claims only 24% of its cocoa is traceable.
“Moreover, Mars is well aware that the Rainforest Alliance certification is ineffective,” they wrote.
“The statement creates the misleading impression that the certification has some ethical and environmental meaning.”
The defendants suggested an Aug. 3 hearing on their motions.