NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - Lawsuits over "real cheese" in products like Combos are starting to stink, the snack's maker says.
Mars Wrigley Confectionary filed a motion to dismiss Nov. 7 in New York federal court as it fights litigation alleging it duped consumers into thinking there would be more real cheese in Combos than there actually is.
It's one of hundreds of consumer deception cases filed by New York lawyer Spencer Sheehan, who is known for his novel theories that have sometimes angered judges.
Mars says Sheehan failed with "real cheese" lawsuits in Illinois and Wisconsin against Kraft Heinz and has moved on to New York, hoping for better results. He alleges Combos misleads consumers by putting the words "made with REAL CHEESE" on the front of the package, above a block of cheddar cheese.
"Plaintiff claims that she selected Combos as her snack food of choice because she was seeking the nutritional value of real cheese," the Mars motion to dismiss says.
"According to Plaintiff, she was misled as to the quantity of real cheese included in the product, despite that the information panel discloses that the filling's predominate ingredient is dairy product solids."
Christine Rodriguez is the plaintiff in the case. She says she purchased the defendant's Combos stuffed snacks between June 2020 and the present at various stores in the Bronx area.
She claims the snack does not contain a "significant, predominant and/or absolute amount of real cheese" despite its front label stating "filling made with REAL CHEESE" which is above a photo of a fresh block of cheddar cheese.
Rodriguez alleges she did not know the product did not contain the amount of real cheese expected but instead has "lower quality substitutes such as dairy product solids."
She further alleges the defendant's false and misleading representations cause the product to be sold at a premium price and that consumers pay more for the product which is "materially less than its value."
Rodriguez claims the defendants fraudulently omitted the qualities of the product than if it had real cheese.