Wilson v. Frito-Lay North America, Inc.

260 F. Supp. 3d 1202
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMay 26, 2017
DocketCase No.12-cv-01586-JST
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 260 F. Supp. 3d 1202 (Wilson v. Frito-Lay North America, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilson v. Frito-Lay North America, Inc., 260 F. Supp. 3d 1202 (N.D. Cal. 2017).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

FILED UNDER SEAL1

Re: ECF No. 163

JON S, TIGAR, United States District Judge

In this putative class action about potato chips,2 named plaintiffs Markus Wilson and Doug Campen allége that Defendant Frito-Lay placed misleading labels on its potato chip products in violation of California consumer protection statutes. Second Amended Complaint (“SAC”), ECF No. 47.

Defendant Frito-Lay, North America, Inc. (“Frito-Lay”) has filed a motion for summary judgment. Because the evidence demonstrates that -neither Wilson, nor Campen relied on Frito-Lay’s allegedly objectionable packaging, - the Court will grant the motion.

[1206]*1206I. BACKGROUND

Mr. Wilson and Mr. Campen are California residents who purchased Lay’s potato chip products between March 29, 2008 to the present. Id ¶¶ 1-2, 26-27. Although Plaintiffs initially challenged various statements appearing on several Frito-Lay products, the only remaining claims before the Court are: (1) Mr. Wilson’s challenge to the “Og Trans Fat” label on Lay’s Classic Potato Chips; and (2) Mr. Campen’s challenge to both the “Og Trans Fat” label and the “Made with All Natural Ingredients” label on the following products: Lay’s Classic Potato Chips, Lay’s Honey Barbecue Potato Chips, Lay’s Kettle Cooked Mesquite BBQ Potato Chips, Cheetos Puffs, and Frito’s Original Corn Chips.3 See ECF No. 46; ECF No. 73; SAC, ECF No. 47 ¶¶ 2, 5.

In their Second Amended Complaint, Plaintiffs allege that the “Og Trans Fat” label is misleading because the challenged products contained more than 13 grams of fat, and therefore Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) regulations required a disclosure statement referring consumers to the back panel for information regarding total fat content. SAC, ECF No. 47 ¶¶ 88-94. Plaintiffs further allege that, because of this unlawful “Og Trans Fat” label, “Plaintiffs were misled into the erroneous belief that the product only made positive contributions to their diet and did not contain one or more nutrients like total fat at levels in the food that may increase the risk of disease or health related condition.” Id. ¶ 103. Mr. Campen also alleges that the “Made with All Natural Ingredients” label is misleading because the challenged products contain artificial and synthetic ingredients, such as yeast extract, caramel col- or, citric acid, maltodextrin, and chemical preservatives. Id. ¶¶ 45-53, 55-57.

Frito-Lay removed both the “Og Trans Fat” and “Made with All Natural Ingredients” labels from its products in 2012. ECF No. 167 at 7.

Based on these alleged misrepresentations, Plaintiffs assert claims under California’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”), Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200 et seq., California’s False Advertising Law (“FAL”), Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17500 et seq., and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (“CLRA”), Cal. Civ. Code § 1750 et seq. Id. ¶¶ 189-245. The Court4 dismissed all other claims when ruling on multiple motions to dismiss. See ECF No. 46; ECF No. 73. Plaintiffs seek class certification; damages, restitution or disgorgement to Plaintiffs and the class; and in-junctive relief. Id. at 58-59.

Discovery has been closed since February 2015, and Frito-Lay now moves for summary judgment in its favor as to all of Plaintiffs’ claims. ECF No. 117; ECF No. 163.

II. REQUESTS FOR JUDICIAL NOTICE

Federal Rule of Evidence 201(b) authorizes courts to take judicial notice of facts that are “not subject to reasonable dispute” and that are “capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot be reasonably questioned.” Fed. R. Evid. 201(b); United States v. Ritchie, 342 F.3d 903, 907-09 (9th Cir. 2003). Public records and information on government agency websites are properly subject to judicial notice. [1207]*1207See Paralyzed Veterans of Am. v. McPherson, No. C064670SBA, 2008 WL 4183981, at *5 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 9, 2008); Eidson v. Medtronic, Inc., 981 F.Supp.2d 868, 878-79 (N.D. Cal. 2013). Courts may also take judicial notice of “court filings and other matters of public record.” Reyn’s Pasta Bella, LLC v. Visa USA, Inc., 442 F.3d 741, 749, n. 6 (9th Cir. 2006) (citing Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Auth. v. City of Burbank, 136 F.3d 1360, 1364 (9th Cir. 1998)).

Frito-Lay requests that the Court take judicial notice of letters sent between the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the FDA in 2006 (Exhibits A and B), copies of FDA food labeling guidance (Exhibits C, E, H, and I), copies of warning letters sent from the FDA to other companies (Exhibits D and F), and an amicus curiae brief filed by Congressman Henry Waxman and former FDA Commissioner David Kessler in California Restaurant Ass’n v. San Francisco, Case No. 08-cv-03247, ECF No. 25-1 (N.D. Cal.). ECF No. 165.

Plaintiffs similarly request that the Court take judicial notice of several FDA warning letters issued to other companies during the relevant time period (Exhibits 14-15,18,19-27). ECF No. 169.

The Court grants both requests for judicial notice in their entirety. Courts routinely take judicial notice of similar FDA guidance documents, many of which also appear on the FDA’s public website. See, e.g., Gustavson v. Wrigley Sales Co., 961 F.Supp.2d 1100, 1126, n. 1 (N.D. Cal. 2013) (taking judicial notice of an FDA guidance document about food labeling, an FDA response letter, and an amicus brief). Moreover, the amicus brief is judicially noticeable because it is a court filing from another judicial proceeding. Reyn’s, 442 F.3d at 749, n. 6.

Plaintiffs only object to Frito-Lay’s request with respect to Exhibit A, on the ground that it is a letter from a public interest group to the FDA, and not the other way around. ECF No. 169. However, the letter from the Center for Science in the Public Interest to the FDA precipitated the FDA’s response letter in Exhibit B, and thus provides context for Exhibit B. Moreover, Exhibit A is produced for the purpose of showing that Frito-Lay did not have fair notice of the FDA’s requirements during the relevant time period. Therefore, the Court takes judicial notice of Exhibit A to “indicate what was in the public realm at the time, not whether the contents of [the letter] were in fact true.” Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, 592 F.3d 954, 960 (9th Cir. 2010) (internal quotation marks omitted).

III. SUMMARY JUDGMENT

A. Legal Standard

Summary judgment is proper when a “movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a).

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Bluebook (online)
260 F. Supp. 3d 1202, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-frito-lay-north-america-inc-cand-2017.