Bautista v. Cytosport, Inc.

223 F. Supp. 3d 182, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171468, 2016 WL 7192109
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedDecember 12, 2016
DocketNo. 15-CV-9081 (CS)
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 223 F. Supp. 3d 182 (Bautista v. Cytosport, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bautista v. Cytosport, Inc., 223 F. Supp. 3d 182, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171468, 2016 WL 7192109 (S.D.N.Y. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

Seibel, District Judge.

Before the Court is Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs Second Amended Complaint. (Doc. 32.) For the following reasons, the motion is GRANTED.

I. Background

A. Facts

For purposes of this motion, the Court accepts as true the facts, but not the conclusions, alleged by Plaintiff in the Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”), (Doc. 31). In or about October 2015, at a CVS in Bardo-nia, New York, Plaintiff purchased a vanilla-flavored Muscle Milk protein powder manufactured by Defendant CytoSport for approximately $28.00. (SAC ¶¶ 14, 15.) Plaintiff expected the opaque container to be full. (Id. ¶¶ 2, 6, 33.) When he opened it he was “surprised and disappointed” to discover that it contained roughly 30% of empty space. (Id. ¶ 6.) Plaintiff would not have bought Defendant’s product had he known about the empty space in the container before making the purchase. (Id.) At unstated times in the year prior to the filing of the SAC on April 27, 2016, Plaintiff purchased whey-based, strawberry, and chocolate-flavored protein powder products made by Defendant which also contained 30% of empty space. (Id. ¶¶2, 15.)1

Under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”), 21 U.S.C. § 343(d), and its implementing regulations at, 21 C.F.R. § 100.100, a food is misbranded “[i]f its container is so made, formed or filled as to- be misleading.” A container is misleading if its contents cannot be fully viewed and it contains “nonfunctional slack fill.” 21 C.F.R, § 100.100. “Slack fill is the difference between the actual capacity of the container and the volume of the product contained therein.” Id. Slack fill is nonfunctional, and therefore misleading, unless it exists for one of six reasons set forth in the regulation: i) the protection of the contents of the package; ii) the requirements of the machines used to enclose the conténts in the package; iii) settling during shipping and handling; iv) the need for the package to perform a specific function; v) the food is packaged in a reusable container with empty space as part of the presentation of the food; or vi) inability to increase the fill level or reduce [187]*187the package size because, for example, the size is .necessary to accommodate food labeling requirements or discourage theft. Id. The SAC alleges that. (‘[n]one of the above-referenced safe-harbor provisions applies” to the products Plaintiff purchased or several other similar products made by Defendant, which he defines as the “Protein Powder Products,”2 (SAC ¶¶ 2, 25, 26.) Plaintiff further alleges “Defendant CytoSport intentionally incorporated nonfunctional slack fill in its packaging of the Protein Powder Products to mislead customers, including Plaintiff and the Class Members.” (Id. ¶ 26; see id. ¶ 40 (“No practical reason exists for the nonfunctional slack-fill used to package the Protein Powder Products other than to mislead consumers as to the actual volume of the Products customers purchased.”)).

B. Procedural Background

Plaintiff filed the original complaint in this action on November 18, 2015, (Doc. 1), and an Amended Complaint on December 2, 2016, (Doc. 5). On February 10, 2016, the Court granted Defendant’s request for a pre-motion conference concerning a proposed motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). (Docs. 18, 19.) At the conference on April 18, 2016, the Court gave Plaintiff leave to further amend his complaint. Plaintiff filed the SAC on April 27, 2016. (Doc. 31.) Plaintiff asserts state-law claims for: 1) violation of New York’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act, N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 349; 2) fraud; 3) negligent misrepresentation; and 4) unjust enrichment. (SAC ¶¶ 55-88.) He also seeks to represent a nationwide class of all persons who purchased the Protein Powder Products containing nonfunctional slack fill, as well as a New York subclass. (Id. ¶¶ 42-54.) Defendant has moved-,to dismiss the SAC pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). (Doc. 32.)

II. Legal Standards

“To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’ ” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. “While a complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not need detailed factual allegations, a plaintiffs obligation to provide the grounds of his entitlement to -relief requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955 (alteration, citations, and internal quotation marks omitted). While Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8 “marks a notable and generous departure from the hyper-technical, code-pleading regime of a prior era, ... it does not unlock the doors of discovery for a plaintiff armed with' nothing more than conclusions.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678-79, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

In considering whether a complaint states a claim upon which relief can be granted, the court “begin[s] by identifying pleadings that, because they are no more than conclusions, are not entitled to the assumption of truth,” and then determines whether the remaining, well-pleaded factual allegations, accepted as true, “plausibly [188]*188give rise to an entitlement to relief.” Id. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937. Deciding whether a complaint states a plausible claim for relief is “a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Id. “[W]here the well-pleaded facts do not permit the court to infer more than the mere possibility of misconduct, the complaint has alleged—but it has not ‘shown’—‘that the pleader is entitled to relief.’” Id. (alteration omitted) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2)).

III. Discussion

A. Standing3

Plaintiff seeks to represent a putative class of purchasers of Defendant’s Protein Powder Products. (SAC ¶¶ 2, 45.) Defendant argues Plaintiff lacks standing to bring claims related to any of Defendant’s products that Plaintiff has not purchased. (D’s Mem.

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223 F. Supp. 3d 182, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171468, 2016 WL 7192109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bautista-v-cytosport-inc-nysd-2016.