Salazar v. Honest Tea, Inc.

74 F. Supp. 3d 1304, 2014 WL 2593601, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83164
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedJune 10, 2014
DocketNo. 2:13-cv-02318-KJM-EFB
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 74 F. Supp. 3d 1304 (Salazar v. Honest Tea, 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
Salazar v. Honest Tea, Inc., 74 F. Supp. 3d 1304, 2014 WL 2593601, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83164 (E.D. Cal. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER

KIMBERLY J. MUELLER, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on defendant Honest Tea, Ine.’s (“defendant” or “Honest Tea”) Motion to Dismiss plaintiffs Complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). (Def.’s Mot. to Dismiss, ECF 12.) Plaintiff Sarah A. Salazar (“plaintiff’ or “Ms. Salazar”) opposes the motion. (Pl.’s Opp’n, ECF 16.) The court held a hearing on the matter on April 25, 2014, at which Annick Persinger and Yere: mey Krivoshey appeared for plaintiff and Travis Tu and Tammy Webb appeared for defendant. As explained below, the court [1308]*1308GRANTS in part and DENIES in part defendant’s motion. Also before the court is plaintiffs request for judicial notice (ECF 17.)1

I. RELEVANT BACKGROUND

A. ALLEGED FACTS

This putative class action arises out of Honest Tea’s alleged dishonesty. (See (Pl.’s Compl. ¶1, ECF 1 (“Compl.”)).) Plaintiff alleges defendant’s Honey Green Tea bottles did not contain the amount of antioxidants represented on their labels. (Id. ¶ 2.) Specifically, plaintiff alleges that independent testing by a laboratory retained by plaintiffs counsel determined the bottles contained an average of 186.7 mg of flavonoids per bottle, equivalent to 24 percent below the “247 mg Antioxidants Green Tea Flavonoids Per Bottle” highlighted on the labels. (Id.)

Plaintiff, a citizen of California, regularly purchased Honey Green Tea between 2012 and 2013. (Id. ¶ 4.) Plaintiff avers she purchased Honey Green Tea in reliance on the representations about the antioxidant content. (Id.) Defendant Honest Tea is “the distributor and seller of ... Honey Green Tea....” (Id. ¶ 5.)

Plaintiff alleges that defendant has used for advertising purposes phrases such as “Refreshingly Honest” and “Brutally Honest,” in addition to interactive campaigns centered on the word “honesty.” . (Id. ¶¶ 8-12.) Plaintiff further alleges that between 2008 and 2011, defendant used the label representation “250mg EGCG2 Super- Antioxidant.” (Id. ¶ 23.) That representation was misleading, plaintiff avers, because independent testing showed the bottles contained on average only 70 mg of EGCG. (Id. ¶ 26.) In 2011, defendant changed the representation to “Antioxidants 190mg Tea Catechins/Bottle.” (Id. ¶'23.) However, that label was also allegedly misleading because independent testing showed only 119 mg of catechins. (Id. ¶ 27.) Finally, in 2013, defendant replaced the representation with “247 mg Antioxidants Green Tea Flavonoids Per Bottle.” (Id. ¶ 23.) Plaintiff alleges defendant changed its labels but not the formulation of the product'because “the independent lab showed that the flavonoids in Honey Green Tea averaged ... 186.67 mg per 16.9 fl. oz. (500 ml) bottle.” (Id. ¶31.)

B. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On November 6, 2013, plaintiff filed a class action complaint against defendant in this court alleging jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(2)(A). (Id. ¶ 6.) Plaintiff brings this action “on behalf of herself and a nationwide class of purchasers of Honey Green Tea” (id. ¶¶ 1, 3), “excluding those that made such purchase for purpose of resale ...” (id. ¶35). “Plaintiffalso seeks to represent a subclass of all [cjlass members who purchased the product in California....” (Id. ¶ 36.) Plaintiff alleges the following eight claims:

(1) Breach of express warranty;
(2) Breach of implied warranty of merchantability;
[1309]*1309(3) Breach of implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose;
(4) Violation of California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act (“CLRA”), California Civil Code § 1750 et seq.;
(5) Violation of California’s Unfair Com-. petition Law (“UCL”), California Business and Professions Code § 17200 et seq.;
(6) Violation of California’s False Advertising Law (“FAL”), California Business and Professions Code § 17200 et seq.;
(7) Negligent misrepresentation; and
(8) Fraud.

(Compl. at 12-20.) Defendant now moves to dismiss plaintiffs entire complaint (ECF 12), and plaintiff opposes the motion (ECF 16). Defendant has replied. (Def.’s Reply, ECF 19).

II. LEGAL STANDARD

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), a party may move to dismiss a complaint for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” A court may dismiss “based on the lack of a cognizable legal theory or the absence of sufficient facts alleged under a cognizable legal theory.” Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep’t, 901 F.2d 696, 699 (9th Cir.1988).

Although a complaint need contain only “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2), to survive a motion to dismiss this short and plain statement “must contain sufficient factual matter ... 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 Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). A complaint must include something more than “an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation” or “ ‘labels and conclusions’ or ‘a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action ....’” Id. (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955). Determining whether a complaint will survive a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is a “context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial experience and common sense.” Id. at 679, 129 S.Ct. 1937. Ultimately, the inquiry focuses on the interplay between the factual allegations of the complaint and the dispositive issues of law in the action. See Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984).

In making this context-specific evaluation, this court “must presume all factual allegations of the complaint to be true and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party.” Usher v. City of Los Angeles, 828 F.2d 556, 561 (9th Cir.1987). This rule does not apply to “a legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation,”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
74 F. Supp. 3d 1304, 2014 WL 2593601, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salazar-v-honest-tea-inc-caed-2014.