It is well-settled that fraud-based claims asserted in federal court need to satisfy not only Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6)'s plausibility pleading standard but also the heightened pleading requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b). Rule 9(b) requires that a party plead fraud with particularity, which means that the complaint must identify the who, what, when, where, and how of the misconduct charged as well as what is false or misleading about the purportedly fraudulent statement and why it is false.
In Davidson v. Sprout Foods, the Ninth Circuit applied that standard to food labeling claims relating to nutrient content. 106 F.4th 842, 853 (9th Cir. 2024). The plaintiffs in Davidson alleged that nutrient content labels on defendant's baby food pouches misled consumers into believing the products were good for babies when they were actually nutritionally and developmentally harmful. Id. at 844-45, 852. The nutrient content statement on an exemplar product stated "3g of Protein, 5g of Fiber and 300mg Omega-3 from Chia ALA." Id. at 846. The Ninth Circuit held that plaintiffs failed to sufficiently allege why this implied message was false, i.e., that the products were in fact harmful. Id. at 854. In support of their contention that the defendant's products are harmful, the plaintiffs offered...
