TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) – A “copy-cat” class action lawsuit over empty space in Tootsie Roll products like Junior Mints should be thrown out of court, just as its predecessors have been.
That’s the company’s argument in a Jan. 29 motion to dismiss in New Jersey federal court as it fights litigation from the law firms Shepherd Finkelman and Clarkson Law Firm that says customers are misled by the sizes of boxes of Junior Mints and Sugar Babies that were sold at movie theaters until 2018.
“The front of every challenged box conspicuously and accurately disclosed the weight of the candy contained inside,” the motion says.
“The ‘Nutrition Facts’ panel on each of the boxes also disclosed both the serving size (in pieces and grams) and the total number of servings per container. At all times, the box contained a disclosure stating ‘PRODUCT SOLD BY WEIGHT NOT VOLUME.’
“Such clearly visible disclosures of the contents are fatal to plaintiff’s ability to plead any deceptive act.”
It is the fifth lawsuit over alleged slack fill that the company has faced. Judges in California, New York and Illinois have rejected them, with New York’s Naomi Reice Buchwald writing “The law simply does not provide the level of coddling plaintiffs seek.”
The Clarkson firm has two more cases pending, including the new New Jersey lawsuit. The other is in California, where the firm unsuccessfully argued it isn’t seeking more than $5 million – a threshold that will keep the case in federal court, where the defendant wants it.