Lengen v. General Mills, Inc.

185 F. Supp. 3d 1213, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60091, 2016 WL 2602416
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedMay 5, 2016
DocketNo. 2:15-cv-02262-MCE-KJN
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 185 F. Supp. 3d 1213 (Lengen v. General Mills, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lengen v. General Mills, Inc., 185 F. Supp. 3d 1213, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60091, 2016 WL 2602416 (E.D. Cal. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

MORRISON C. ENGLAND, JR., CHIEF JUDGE

Plaintiffs Keri Van Lengen and Deborah Nava (collectively “Plaintiffs”), filed this putative class action against Defendants General Mills, Inc., General Mills Sales, Inc., General Mills Operations, LLC, Roxanne Ornelas, and Does 1-50, (collectively “Defendants”) setting forth five claims for relief: (1) violation of California’s Unfair Business Practices Act (“CUBPA”); (2) violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”); (3) violation of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act (“CRLA”); (4) unjust enrichment; and (5) breach of express warranty. Presently before the Court are Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6)1 and Defendants’ Motion to Strike Plaintiffs’ class allegations pursuant to Rule 12(f). ECF No. 9. For the following reasons, Defendants’ motions are GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.2

BACKGROUND3

Beginning in July 2015, Defendants began a manufacturing process to produce [1216]*1216certain of their Cheerios cereal products without gluten. Defendants labeled these Cheerios products as “gluten free.” After Defendants began selling these gluten free products, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) received complaints about the products’ gluten level. Subsequent FDA testing confirmed that a sample of Defendants’ gluten free products had levels of gluten that exceeded applicable FDA regulations.

On October 5, 2015, Defendants announced a voluntary recall of approximately 1.8 million units of Cheerios products produced in their Lodi, California, packaging facility. Defendants maintain that there was an isolated incident at the Lodi facility that resulted in wheat flour, which contains gluten, being inadvertently introduced into select batches of the gluten free Cheerios packaged at that facility.

In September 2015, Plaintiffs purchased Defendants’ gluten free Cheerios after seeing Defendants’ gluten free advertisements and gluten free labels. Plaintiffs subsequently learned that the gluten free Cheerios were recalled for containing gluten and initiated this action. Since then, Plaintiffs’ counsel has been contacted by several additional consumers who unknowingly purchased, consumed, and allegedly were injured by Defendants’ gluten free Cheerios after the recall was instituted.

In December 2015, Defendant filed the instant motions. Defendants’ Rule 12(b)(1) motion argues that Plaintiffs lack standing to pursue their claims because Defendants’ recall program provides them with all of the relief they seek. The motion to strike seeks to excise Plaintiff’s class action allegations from the Complaint. Finally, Defendants’ Rule 12(b)(6) motion attacks the sufficiency of each of Plaintiffs claims, and further argues that the Complaint is devoid of allegations regarding Defendant Ornelas.4

STANDARD

A. 12(b)(1) Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, and are presumptively without jurisdiction over civil actions. Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 377, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994). The burden of establishing the contrary rests upon the party asserting jurisdiction. Id. Lack of subject matter jurisdiction may be raised by either party at any point during the litigation, through a motion to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1). Arbaugh v. Y&H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 506, 126 S.Ct. 1235, 163 L.Ed.2d 1097 (2006); see also Int’l Union of Operating Eng’rs v. Cnty. of Plumas, 559 F.3d 1041, 1043-44 (9th Cir.2009).

There are two types of motions to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction: a facial attack and a factual attack. Thornhill Publ’g Co. v. Gen. Tel. & Elec. Corp., 594 F.2d 730, 733 (9th Cir.1979). Thus, a party may either make an attack on the allegations of jurisdiction contained in the nonmoving party’s complaint, or may challenge the existence of subject matter jurisdiction in fact, despite the formal sufficiency of the pleadings. Id.

In the case of a factual attack, “no presumptive truthfulness attaches to plaintiffs allegations.” Thornhill, 594 F.2d at 733 (internal citation omitted). The party opposing the motion has the burden of proving that subject matter jurisdiction does exist, and must present any necessary evidence to satisfy this burden. St. [1217]*1217Clair v. City of Chico, 880 F.2d 199, 201 (9th Cir.1989). If the plaintiffs allegations of jurisdictional facts are challenged by the adversary in the appropriate manner, the plaintiff cannot rest on the mere assertion that factual issues may exist. Trentacosta v. Frontier Pac. Aircraft Ind., Inc., 813 F.2d 1553, 1558 (9th Cir.1987) (quoting Exch. Nat’l Bank of Chi. v. Touche Ross & Co., 544 F.2d 1126, 1131 (2d Cir.1976)). Furthermore, the district court may review any evidence necessary, including affidavits and testimony,' in order to determine whether subject matter jurisdiction exists. McCarthy v. United States, 850 F.2d 558, 560 (9th Cir.1988); Thornhill, 594 F.2d at 733. If the nonmoving party fails to meet its burden and the court determines that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction, the court must dismiss the action. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3).

B. 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim

On a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), all allegations of material fact must be accepted as true and construed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Cahill v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 80 F.3d 336, 337-38 (9th Cir.1996). Rule 8(a)(2) requires only “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief’ in order to “give the defendant fair notice of what the ... claim is and the grounds upon which it rests.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). A complaint attacked by a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss does not require detailed factual allegations.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
185 F. Supp. 3d 1213, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60091, 2016 WL 2602416, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lengen-v-general-mills-inc-caed-2016.