CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) - A class action plaintiff expected too much from her box of caramel Nips, a federal judge has ruled.
Chicago judge Steven Seeger on March 22 threw out the lawsuit by plaintiff Kianna Garner against Ferrara Candy Company, whose Nips hard candies purport to be "rich and creamy" on the packaging.
The lawsuit, filed by Spencer Sheehan, said consumers would expect more than a de minimis amount of milk fat because the package says they are "creamy." The fat content comes mostly from vegetable fat.
"Gardner is reading far too much into the packaging," Seeger wrote. "The product did not promise a certain level of cream or other milk fat.
"In fact, the packaging didn't even promise that Nips contained dairy at all. No reasonable consumer could believe that the words 'caramel' and 'creamy' guaranteed a certain amount of cream."
Citing dictionary definitions of caramel didn't sway Seeger, despite all of them calling it a candy made from milk.
"Ferrara's candy does have milk fat in it," he wrote. "So it meets the dictionary definitions of caramel. In fact, the complaint concedes that reduced-fat milk is the number three ingredient in Nips, behind corn syrup and sugar.
"So, the leading ingredient that contains fat is, in fact, based on dairy."
Ferrara filed its motion to dismiss in July 1. It was represented by Sanjay Karnik of Amin Talati Wasserman in Chicago, as well as William Cole and Matthew Orr from the firm's office in Los Angeles.