CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) – Add Coffee Mate Natural Bliss to the list of products that have their manufacturer being sued for using vanilla flavoring instead of real vanilla.
New York attorney Spencer Sheehan sued Nestle on Feb. 8 in Chicago federal court. He’s filed more than 100 such cases over various products but has struggled to convince judges to buy his argument.
“Defendant was required to disclose – on the front label and ingredient list – that the Product’s vanilla taste is not from vanilla ingredients, but from artificial flavor,” the suit says.
Sheehan’s plaintiff for the case is Elizabeth Suriano, who says she wouldn’t have paid as much for the creamer if she knew there was no real vanilla.
“As a result of the false and misleading representations, the Product is sold at a premium price, approximately no less than no less than $5.19 for bottles of 16 OZ, excluding tax, compared to other similar products represented in a non-misleading way, and higher than it would be sold for absent the misleading representations,” the suit says.