Supreme Court ruling today in Pom Wonderful labeling dispute with Coca-Cola

Morrison & Foerster consumer litigation and product liability attorney Claudia Vetesi, who has been watching the case, is available to discuss its implications for the food and beverage industry. She has experience with food mislabeling and class action litigation, and has written on the POM Wonderful LLC v. The Coca Cola Co. case specifically.

The dispute between the two companies has been ongoing since 2008, when Pom first argued that the pomegranate-blueberry juice blend sold by Coca-Cola-owned Minute Maid  -- which contains less than 1% pomegranate juice -- was labeled to mislead customers. The full name of the Minute Maid product is “Pomegranate Blueberry Flavored Blend of 5 Juices.”

At issue was whether a private party can bring a Lanham Act false advertising claim against a product label regulated federally by the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Pom Wonderful challenged a 2012 Ninth Circuit ruling that FDA regulations supersede Pom's right to bring claims. The Court reversed the Ninth Circuit, holding that competitors may bring Lanham Act claims like POM’s challenging food and beverage labels regulated by the FDCA.