OAKLAND, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – A federal appeals court will not hear the appeal of class action lawyers who are suing over empty space in movie theater candy.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said Feb. 17 that it does not have jurisdiction over the appeal of an order that keeps the lawsuit in federal court. Attorneys at the Clarkson Law Firm first filed the case in California state court, but Tootsie Roll Industries removed the case to Oakland federal court.
There, Magistrate Jude Sallie Kim ruled on Nov. 30 that the lawsuit seeks at least $5 million – a threshold for federal jurisdiction. The plaintiffs lawyers appealed.
TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) – A “copy-cat” class action lawsuit over empty space in Tootsie Roll products like Junior Mints should be thrown out of court, just as its predecessors have been.
That’s the company’s argument in a Jan. 29 motion to dismiss in New Jersey federal court as it fights litigation from the law firms Shepherd Finkelman and Clarkson Law Firm that says customers are misled by the sizes of boxes of Junior Mints and Sugar Babies that were sold at movie theaters until 2018.
“The front of every challenged box conspicuously and accurately disclosed the weight of the candy contained inside,” the motion says.
Consumer Asks Ninth Circuit to Review Remand Decision in Tootsie Roll Slack-Fill Suit
January 21, 2021
Plaintiff Elizabeth Maisel has responded to an order to show cause as part of her efforts to appeal a Northern District of California court order denying remand to state court. The plaintiff argued that the court misjudged the amount of damages sought by finding them to be greater than the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) jurisdictional minimum. The case originated last May when the plaintiff filed a California consumer protection and packaging law case against Tootsie Roll Industries, LLC for deceptively packaging two of its candy products, Junior Mints and Sugar Babies, with nonfunctional empty space, or “slack-fill.”
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – ChapStick’s lip butter and balms aren’t as natural as their manufacturer claims, class action attorneys allege in a new lawsuit.
Clarkson Law Firm and Moon Law filed suit against GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Holdings and Pfizer on Dec. 16 in California federal court. They say claims of “100% Natural” and “100% Naturally Sourced Ingredients” are misleading buyers of four specific products – Natural Lip Butter, Natural Lip Balm, Essential Oils Lip Balm and Hydration Moisture + Tint Lip Balm.
“(T)he products actually contain numerous non-natural, synthetic, artificial and/or highly processed ingredients,” the suit says. “Through falsely, misleadingly and deceptively labeling the products, Defendants sought to take advantage of consumers’ desire for truly natural products.”
TRENTON, N.J. (Legal Newsline) – Class action lawyers mad at the empty space in candy boxes have filed a lawsuit in New Jersey similar to another being contested in California.
The New Jersey firm Shepherd Finkelman teamed with California’s Clarkson Law Firm for a class action filed Dec. 10 in federal court against Tootsie Roll.
Boxes of Junior Mints and Sugar Babies sold in movie theaters have more air, called slack fill, than customers expect when they see the size of the box, the lawsuit says.
“Tootsie’s ‘slack-fill’ scam dupes unsuspecting consumers across America to pay for empty space at premium prices,” the lawsuit says.