BOSTON (Legal Newsline) - Plaintiffs have made it past New Balance's motion to dismiss as they have received permission to pursue a class action lawsuit over the shoe-maker's "Made in the USA" collection.
The company admits shoes in its MADE line are made of up to 30% foreign material but also says it tells consumers this fact. Boston federal judge Angel Kelley denied the company's motion on Dec. 23.
"Defendant's assertions that its disclaimers altered any promise and also formed part of the basis of the bargain are not sufficient to dismiss this claim at this stage because the plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the disclaimers are too inconspicuous for reasonable consumers to notice or are inherently ambiguous and unclear even when viewed," Judge Kelley wrote.
"Furthermore, New Balance cannot negate or limit a warranty with a contradictory disclaimer if, as plaintiff has alleged, a reasonable consumer would not expect there to be small print qualifications that contradict its more prominent unqualified "Made in the USA" marketing."
The lawsuit, filed by Bursor & Fisher and Reardon Scanlon, says class members were harmed by paying for a product than they would have had they known the shoes contained foreign material.