Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, STATE UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES—E.D.N.Y.: Consolidated deceptive labeling claims best resolved by transferor courts, (Jul 11, 2013)

By Jody Coultas, J.D.

The federal district court in New York City recommended that the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation remand claims against The Coca-Cola Company that the Panel had assigned to the court (In Re Glaceau Vitaminwater Marketing and Sales Practice Litigation, July 10, 2013, Irizarry, D.).

A number of cases were consolidated in the New York court with a case filed by a New York resident against Coca-Cola based on its allegedly deceptive labeling of its vitaminwater product. The Florida, Virgin Islands, Illinois, and Ohio plaintiffs all opposed consolidation.

The pending motions for class certification of the state consumer protection law claims filed against Coca-Cola would be best determined by the transferor courts, according to the court. Coca-Cola argued that consumer expectations and understanding varied greatly and, thus, claims of reliance, causation, and injury were not susceptible to generalized, class-wide proof. The class certification motions hinged, at least in part, on whether an objective or subjective consumer standard applied under the state laws at issue.

Because the claims concerned unsettled issues under some of the state laws involved, the court found that the cases would be best settled by the transferor courts. There is a split of authority on the question of consumer standing to bring a claim under the Ohio law. Florida courts are also split on the interaction of the reliance and causation elements, and some Florida courts have required individualized proof in order to satisfy the causation element. The Virgin Islands does not have a large body of precedent, and has yet not ruled on issues concerning class certification or the Virgin Islands Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Whether the alleged misrepresentations were sufficiently uniform to satisfy the Illinois law was a question best reserved for the transferor court.

The case is No. 11-md-2215 (DLI) (RML).

Attorneys: Brian D. Long (Roda & Nast, P.C.) for Batsheva Ackerman. Adam Michael Abensohn (Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan) for The Coca-Cola Company.

Companies: The Coca-Cola Company

Cases: StateUnfairTradePractices NewYorkNews