BROOKLYN, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) – Calling Reese’s cups “white” doesn’t mislead customers into thinking they are made of chocolate, a federal judge has ruled in the latest blow to class action lawyers who have sued over other white products.
Brooklyn federal judge Eric Vitaliano reached his ruling Oct. 26 in a lawsuit brought by attorney Spencer Sheehan and plaintiff Curtis Winston against The Hershey Company.
Hershey’s packaging informed customers what white Reese’s cups were made of if they bothered to read it, he ruled.
“(T)he mere fact that the packaging is white in color and features the word ‘white’ is not a representation that the product contains white chocolate, and because the ingredient list discloses that the product does not in fact contain white chocolate, there is no need for modifying terms like ‘crème’ or ‘coating,’” the decision says.
“Beyond that, plaintiff’s allegations that defendant ‘has promoted the products as white chocolate’ or has described the product in a way that causes third parties to identify the product as white chocolate are without reference to any particular advertisements or statements made by Hershey.
“Pleadings such as these are wholly devoid of allegations that supply a representation or omission specific enough…”
Similar to failed litigation over white chips sold in grocery stores next to chocolate chips, Vitaliano decided that putting white Reese’s cups next to milk and dark chocolate cups doesn’t trick customers into thinking white cups are made with white chocolate.
“That defendant sells peanut butter cups made with chocolate does not make it reasonable to assume that a ‘white’ peanut butter cup sold by defendant is also chocolate, especially when the word chocolate appears nowhere on the packaging and the ingredient list confirms its absence,” the ruling says.
It is at least the fourth ruling against class action lawsuits that allege calling a product “white” fools customers into thinking they are made with chocolate. Those cases involved Kit-Kats and white chips.