Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Ben on June 05, 2009, 12:30:23 AM
-
No story setup required:
------------------------
http://www.loweringthebar.net/2009/06/reasonable-consumer-would-know-crunchberries-are-not-real-judge-rules.html
Reasonable Consumer Would Know "Crunchberries" Are Not Real, Judge Rules
There are days every now and then when my actual legal work directly intersects with my blog work. This is one of those days.
On May 21, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California dismissed a complaint filed by a woman who said she had purchased "Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries" because she believed "crunchberries" were real fruit. The plaintiff, Janine Sugawara, alleged that she had only recently learned to her dismay that said "berries" were in fact simply brightly-colored cereal balls, and that although the product did contain some strawberry fruit concentrate, it was not otherwise redeemed by fruit. She sued, on behalf of herself and all similarly situated consumers who also apparently believed that there are fields somewhere in our land thronged by crunchberry bushes.
Cap'n According to the complaint, Sugawara and other consumers were misled not only by the use of the word "berries" in the name, but also by the front of the box, which features the product's namesake, Cap'n Crunch, aggressively "thrusting a spoonful of 'Crunchberries' at the prospective buyer." Plaintiff claimed that this message was reinforced by other marketing representing the product as a "combination of Crunch biscuits and colorful red, purple, teal and green berries." Yet in actuality, the product contained "no berries of any kind." Plaintiff brought claims for fraud, breach of warranty, and our notorious and ever-popular California Unfair Competition Law and Consumer Legal Remedies Act.
Under the UCL, courts have held that a plaintiff must show that a representation was "likely to deceive a reasonable consumer." [As a disclaimer, I should tell you that my firm represents defendants in UCL cases (among others).] Actual fraud claims, and warranty claims, are harder to prove, so if Sugawara didn't win on the UCL claims, she would be leaving without even any lovely parting gifts. And she did not:
In this case . . . while the challenged packaging contains the word "berries" it does so only in conjunction with the descriptive term "crunch." This Court is not aware of, nor has Plaintiff alleged the existence of, any actual fruit referred to as a "crunchberry." Furthermore, the "Crunchberries" depicted on the [box] are round, crunchy, brightly-colored cereal balls, and the [box] clearly states both that the Product contains "sweetened corn & oat cereal" and that the cereal is "enlarged to show texture." Thus, a reasonable consumer would not be deceived into believing that the Product in the instant case contained a fruit that does not exist. . . . So far as this Court has been made aware, there is no such fruit growing in the wild or occurring naturally in any part of the world.
The court, Judge Morrison England, Jr., also pointed out that the plaintiff acknowledged in her opposition to the motion to dismiss that "[c]lose inspection [of the box] reveals that Crunchberries . . . are not really berries." Plaintiff did not explain why she could not reasonably have figured this out at any point during the four years she alleged she bought Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries in reliance on defendant's fraud.
Finally, the court held that while a first-time loser on a motion to dismiss would typically get a chance to amend the complaint, this one wouldn't:
In this case, . . . it is simply impossible for Plaintiff to file an amended complaint stating a claim based upon these facts. The survival of the instant claim would require this Court to ignore all concepts of personal responsibility and common sense. The Court has no intention of allowing that to happen.
Case dismissed.
Judge England also noted another federal court had "previously rejected substantially similar claims directed against the packaging of Fruit Loops [sic] cereal, and brought by these same Plaintiff attorneys." He found that their attack on "Crunchberries" should fare no better than their prior claims that "Froot Loops" did not contain real froot.
-
:laugh:
So, the crunchberries are not real crunchberries?
-
:D
I hope Sugawara's attorney told her she didn't have a chance in hell of winning and charged her plenty to take the case.
The judge should have asked the plaintiff if she had ever tried dingleberries.
-
The court should have given her a loud razzberry.
-
The fact that these people might breed scares me...
-
What this says about some people is berry disappointing.
-
The schnozleberries taste like schnozleberries!
-
She'll just have to berry the hatchet on this one.
-
Maybe we should all get together and send here a nice bag of dingle berries.
-
Berry punny!
-
In this case, . . . it is simply impossible for Plaintiff to file an amended complaint stating a claim based upon these facts. The survival of the instant claim would require this Court to ignore all concepts of personal responsibility and common sense. The Court has no intention of allowing that to happen.
I find it hard to believe that any court in this land would hold the concepts of personal responsibility and common sense to have ANY legal bearing.
Are you sure this isn't the Onion?
-
:D
I hope Sugawara's attorney told her she didn't have a chance in hell of winning and charged her plenty to take the case.
The judge should have asked the plaintiff if she had ever tried dingleberries.
The attorneys are to blame! Read the last paragraph; they tried this before with Fruit Loops.
-
Crap, and I thought I was getting 6 servings of fruit per day :mad:
-
Next you are going to tell me that Lucky Charms are not real charms!
What does this say about Fruity Pebbles?
I guess their next attempt is to sue the maker of Honeycombs. :)
-
We at least still have Frankenberries. :laugh:
-
I find it hard to believe that any court in this land would hold the concepts of personal responsibility and common sense to have ANY legal bearing.
Are you sure this isn't the Onion?
=D =D =D
You have officially won the intenet. Here's your prize.
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgiveupinternet.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2008%2F12%2Fyou-won-free-internet.jpg&hash=6b5a79ba464c8fe0c28f4eebc3492cc34f184fda)
-
Cap'n According to the complaint, Sugawara and other consumers were misled not only by the use of the word "berries" in the name, but also by the front of the box, which features the product's namesake, Cap'n Crunch, aggressively "thrusting a spoonful of 'Crunchberries' at the prospective buyer." Plaintiff claimed that this message was reinforced by other marketing representing the product as a "combination of Crunch biscuits and colorful red, purple, teal and green berries." Yet in actuality, the product contained "no berries of any kind."
Please tell me that she was running some type of legal scam, maybe hoping for a quick out of court settlement just so she'd go away.
People just cannot be that STUPID!
-
People just cannot be that STUPID!
Au contrare...
>snip< a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California >snip<
-
california and fistful, it's always one or the other... :laugh:
I remember my kid brother used to pick all the crunchberries out and have bowls of just crunchberries. Then they came out with just crunchberries in a box. He was in heaven. =D
-
Wow.
Wonder what it will do to her mind when she finds out that Barney really isn't a purple dinosaur...
-
The schnozleberries taste like schnozleberries!
About those schnozleberries, I've got some bad news for you...
-
I guess their next attempt is to sue the maker of Honeycombs. :)
No, Honeycombs are real, true honey combs. I've been combing with them for years, and my hair is always sweet and well-coiffed.
-
So....will this affect my upcoming lawsuit about Grape Nuts?.... =|
-
Grapes have nuts? Who knew? =D
-
Grapes have nuts? Who knew? =D
And you EAT them! Rocky Mountain grape-oysters? Ewww...
They taste nothing like grapes, though. False advertising! I'll SUE!!!!! :mad::lol:
-
yes, I've often wondered why I could find neither grapes nor nuts in those boxes of grape nuts.
-
....and all this time, I thought all the boy grapes went to the Grape Nuts factory and all the girl grapes went to the produce section.... =|
-
I hope this doesn't muck up Crunch's chance a promotion. Shouldn't he be an O-6 by now, that is Rear Adm'l (Lower Half)?
-
naw, he hasn't been able to break through 0-6 since the drunken brawl episode with Frankenberry and Count Chocula. I hear they're still paying the tab off on the damage to the bar.
-
Ironically, Frankenberry is a real fruit.
-
yea, that's pretty much what the fight was about. The Cap'n called frankenberry a real fruit and the shtf shortly after that. :lol:
-
I hope this doesn't muck up Crunch's chance a promotion. Shouldn't he be an O-6 by now, that is Rear Adm'l (Lower Half)?
O-7, Warren. O-6 is Captain. :police:
280plus - both of those were great! :lol:
-
If Frankenberry had killed the Cap'n, would it have been a cereal killing?
-
Yeah, the Cap'n caught Frankenberry turning Trix for Kix.
-
naw, he hasn't been able to break through 0-6 since the drunken brawl episode with Frankenberry and Count Chocula. I hear they're still paying the tab off on the damage to the bar.
So where was Booberry during the drunken brawl?
-
Ironically, Frankenberry is a real fruit.
Only if its one of those GMOs.
-
So where was Booberry during the drunken brawl?
He'd disappeared, of course.
-
yea, that's pretty much what the fight was about. The Cap'n called frankenberry a real fruit and the shtf shortly after that. :lol:
Yep....and I heard the good Capt'n got his wheat shredded and frosted....
-
I heard his face got Totaled... :O
=D
-
APS = Armed Pun Society
-
Worse, they're cereal punsters.
-
It was so bad the Cap'n had to retire and go back to farming.
With the aging population he decided to help out with health issues. So, yeah, he's rasin' bran.
-
Some cereally corny flakes on this thread...99 and 44 one hundredths percent pure funny.
-
Don't let my wife see this thread.......I have her convenced that Fruit Loops are made from fruit.....After all, she is a natural blonde.......chris3
-
I love the old shredded wheat. The huge packs that are plain, but I'd put sugar on em.
-
CRUNCHBERRIES AREN'T REAL BERRIES?!?!? :O
Should I worry about turtle sundaes, buffalo wings, bear claws, and chicken fingers not being real, too?
-
Should I worry about turtle sundaes, buffalo wings, bear claws, and chicken fingers not being real, too?
No more that you should worry about the state of mountain oysters...
-
APS = Armed Awful Pun Society
Fixed it... =D
-
Some people consider the pun the lowest form of humor.
They are outnumbered by those who refuse to consider the pun a form of humor at all.
-
A sizable number of people in the US thinks gun aficionados are absolutely nuts.
The ruling elite thinks it necessary to restrict our access to firearms to protect "The People".
In response to all these concerns over the stability of gun aficionados, APS posts this thread.
<face palm>We're so screwed!</face palm>
-
Should I worry about turtle sundaes, buffalo wings, bear claws, and chicken fingers not being real, too?
As long as they taste like chicken, I wouldn't spend too much time on it.