CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) - Walmart is hoping a federal judge will toss a class action lawsuit that alleges one of its mayonnaise products contains less olive oil than reasonable consumers would believe.
The company filed a motion to dismiss on Nov. 7 in Chicago federal court, pointing to a recent decision in a similar case against Upfield US Inc. that said reasonable consumers wouldn't think there as a specific amount of olive oil or more olive oil than vegetables just because the label had olive branches.
"It is clear on its face that the (Walmart) product not only contains olive oil, but in fact, as the court aptly noted, olive oil is the third listed ingredient, indicating that olive oil is present in high quantities relative to most other ingredients in the product - including such staple components of mayonnaise as vinegar, whole eggs and egg yolks," the motion says.
Plaintiff Jeremy Guzman filed suit July 5 through attorney Spencer Sheehan, who says consumers seek products with olive oil because of its health benefits.
Meanwhile, vegetable oils are highly processed using chemicals, he says. The ingredients list shows there is more soybean oil than olive oil in the mayo. Customers were tricked into picking the product over others thanks to green packaging, the suit says, and paying a premium price for it.
The product, sold under the Great Value brand, is labeled as "Reduced Fat Mayo with Oilve Oil." The top three ingredients are water, soybean oil and olive oil.
"Plaintiff does not quantify how much olive oil he believes is in the product or even how much consumers expect," the motion to dismiss says. "Rather, Plaintiff acknowledges that the ingredient statement does in fact list olive oil as an ingredient, specifically the third most prominent ingredient."
An Oct. 31 ruling by Chicago federal judge Gary Feinerman addressed "I can't Believe It's Not Butter!" made with olive oil. It threw out her claims but allows plaintiff Cassandra Ledezma to file an amended complaint.
"The product's front label depicts two olives and the phrase 'With Olive Oil,'" Feinerman wrote.
"A reasonable consumer could not take those representations to mean that the product necessarily contains a particular amount of olive oil or more olive oil than vegetable oils.
"Indeed, Ledezma concedes that consumers know that vegetable oil spreads are made of just that - vegetable oil - and the front label itself says '45% Vegetable Oil Spread.'"