WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - The attorney suing over pina colada-flavored Fanta soda has failed to allege a reasonable consumer would be misled by the product's packaging, a federal judge has ruled.
New York judge Kenneth Karas on Feb. 7 dismissed the case filed against Coca-Cola by plaintiff Janie Hawkins and lawyer Spencer Sheehan, with prejudice. The proposed class action took aim at the claim the Fanta has 100% natural flavors despite malic acid that turns natural flavors into synthetic ones.
Coca-Cola called the plaintiff's allegations "conclusory and contradictory" that are too vague to sustain a claim for fraud. The suit also says drinkers who purchase a pina colada-flavored drink expect real pineapple and coconut, not flavoring.
"The product states in the lower left corner: 'Pina Colada Flavored Soda With Other Natural Flavors,' which Plaintiff alleges is false and misleading, as it is 'required to be accompanied by the word(s) 'artificial' or 'artificially flavored,'" Judge Karas wrote.
Karas also determined Sheehan failed to provide Coca-Cola with the pre-lawsuit notice of his claim required by New York consumer protection laws, rejecting Sheehan's arguments Coca-Cola should have already been aware of gripes by consumers.
"Even taking the allegations as true - as this court must - at a motion to dismiss, the allegations in the instant complaint are a far cry from raising 'any factually substantiated allegations' that the product contains artificial malic acid, rather than natural malic acid," Karas wrote.
Karas agreed with Coca-Cola that the claims were "conclusory" and that he was not required to accept them.