The development of the “Food Court” has been attributed to the 2008 decision in Williams v. Gerber Prods. Co., 552 F.3d 934 (9th Cir. 2008). The plaintiffs in Gerber alleged various claims that packaging of Gerber’s Fruit Juice Snacks product for children was deceptive. This included depicting a variety of different fruits next to the words “Fruit-Juice,” when the product only contained, as stated on its ingredient list, white grape juice. The district court dismissed the action holding no reasonable consumer could be deceived. The Ninth Circuit described the fruit depictions as “potentially suggesting (falsely)” those fruits were in the product and that the claim “specifically designed to help toddlers grow up strong and healthy” added to the potential deception. It went on to baldly state that reasonable consumers should not be expected to look at the ingredient list on the side of the box and reversed. There was no discussion of whether it would be reasonable, for consumer parents, particularly in this age of allergy awareness, to review the ingredient list before buying the product for their children. Recent decisions reflect a narrowing interpretation of Gerber allowing a more rigorous evaluation of who constitutes a reasonable consumer and whether the alleged deception is plausible.
In Workman v. Plum Inc., 141 F. Supp. 3d 1032 (N.D. Cal. 2015), the plaintiff alleged that the pictures of different fruit on pureed fruit snack bar packages misrepresented the proportion of those fruits in the bars. After noting that Gerber had been decided before the decision in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009), which held a “claim for relief must be plausible on its face,” the court held that “the plaintiff has not met Iqbal’s plausibility...
