LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) – A Georgia-based Mexican food company must face a class action lawsuit that alleges it fools customers into thinking its products are made south of the border.
Judge Jesus Bernal made his ruling April 22 in a lawsuit against Ole Mexican Foods over its tortillas, on which the company puts Spanish-language phrases and a Mexican flag. Bernal refused the company’s arguments made in a Dec. 22 motion to dismiss.
The tortillas at issue have packages that say “A taste of Mexico” in Spanish. But the packages also disclose they are made in America and that Ole is a Georgia company.
“(T)he alleged misrepresentations are prominently displayed in the front label, and the Ninth Circuit has noted that a reasonable consumer is not ‘expected to look beyond misleading representations on the front of the box to discover the truth,” said Bernal, who sits in Los Angeles federal court.
Ole pointed at other lawsuits over products marketed as from one area while made in another, including a win for Diageo in a case that said customers were misled by Red Stripe’s claim to be “The Taste of Jamaica.”
“However, as Plaintiffs point out, the court considered that the packaging prominently stated ‘Jamaican style Lager,’ and that the word ‘style’ indicated the product was not from Jamaica,” Bernal wrote.
Lawyers at Faruqi & Faruqi filed suit Nov. 6, calling tortillas a “staple of Mexican cuisine.” Customers value tortillas made in Mexico, the suit says, but La Banderitas aren’t made there.
Thus, customers have paid more for a product because they thought it was made in Mexico, the lawsuit says.