PITTSBURGH – A settlement has been reached in the case of a California man who filed a class action lawsuit against The Kraft Heinz Company, connected to claims that its Maxwell House coffee products falsely advertise how many cups of coffee they can make.
Randall Sulzer of San Diego first filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on July 31 versus The Kraft Heinz Company of Pittsburgh and John Does 1-10.
Sulzer said after buying Maxwell House coffee, he was unhappy to learn that he could not make as many cups of coffee with the product as the package had advertised, and claims that a number of Maxwell House products mislead customers into thinking that the products contain more coffee than they actually do.
For $8.50, Sulzer stated that he purchased a canister of Maxwell House Master Blend Light coffee near his home in San Diego, being drawn to the advertisement that claimed the product “makes up to 210 six-fluid-ounce cups” of coffee.
Despite following the brewing instructions, Sulzer said he discovered that the product made far less cups of coffee than the advertised quantity.
As an example, Sulzer pointed to Maxwell House’s “100% Columbian” coffee product, which states the product contains 10.5 ounces of coffee and which can make up to 90 six-fluid-ounce cups.
Sulzer added 90 tablespoons of ground coffee are needed to make 90 servings, or cups, of coffee. But the coffee canister allegedly does not contain enough coffee to make 90 cups of coffee, because one tablespoon of ground coffee weighs around five grams.
In order to make 90 cups of coffee, the product would need to contain 450 grams of coffee. But, Sulzer said, the 10.5-ounce tin only weighs 297 grams, meaning it can only make about 59 cups of coffee using Maxwell House’s own brewing suggestion.
“Thus, it is impossible for the Maxwell House ‘100% Colombian’ product to contain enough ground coffee to make anywhere close to 90 cups of coffee. Defendant’s representation that the 10.5 oz. tin “makes up to 210 six-fluid-ounce cups” is therefore false, deceptive and misleading,” the suit said.
“Defendant also knew or should have known that plaintiff and other consumers, in purchasing the products, would rely on defendant’s serving size representations. Nonetheless, defendant deceptively advertises the products in order to deceive consumers into believing they are getting considerably more coffee than they are paying for.”
According to Sulzer, this type of marketing would be akin to selling someone a six-pack of soda which only contained four cans of soda, and Kraft Heinz is able to profit from the alleged deception – because “a reasonable consumer cannot measure or calculate how many servings the products can make, nor are reasonable consumers expected to keep track of the precise number of cups of coffee they make over a period of time.”
Sulzer alleged that he and other customers were financially harmed by The Kraft Heinz Company because they lost money on their purchase of the defective Maxwell House products in question.
The class action suit stated Sulzer and many other customers are likely to purchase another Maxwell House product again, without knowing they are purchasing a potentially-mislabeled product.
Sulzer brought counts on behalf of the following classes:
• Nationwide Class
All persons who purchased any of the products in the United States within the applicable statute of limitations period.
• California Subclass
All persons who purchased any of the products in the state of California within the applicable statute of limitations period.
• California Consumer Subclass
All persons who purchased any of the products in the state of California for personal, household or family purposes, within the applicable statute of limitations period.
After U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania Judge William S. Stickman IV granted a stay in the case on Oct. 23 that was to last through Jan. 1, the case entered mediation and was then transferred to oversight by fellow U.S. District Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand.
News of a national settlement was also disclosed in a Jan. 5 joint status report.
“On Dec. 9, 2020, defendant The Kraft Heinz Company entered into a nationwide class action settlement in which it agreed to pay up to $16 million in exchange for a release of all claims relating to the labeling of Maxwell House coffee (including all claims premised on the representation that Maxwell House coffee “Makes Up To ___ Cups” of coffee),” the report stated.
“A motion for preliminary approval of that settlement, which encompasses the class-wide claims asserted in this case and several other putative class action lawsuits, is currently pending before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.”
A settlement was preliminarily approved by U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II on Jan. 18.
In the instant case, however, undisclosed settlement terms have been finalized and the case has been closed.
“Please take notice that the above-captioned action is voluntarily dismissed with prejudice by plaintiff Randall Sulzer pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(i),” a Feb. 25 notice of voluntary dismissal stated.
In light of the notice of voluntary dismissal, Wiegand closed the case with prejudice this past Friday.
The plaintiff is represented by Gary F. Lynch, Scott G. Braden and Todd D. Carpenter of Carlson Lynch, in Pittsburgh and San Diego.
The defendants are represented by George L. Stewart II of Reed Smith, in Pittsburgh.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania case 2:20-cv-01154
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com