Wal-Mart Class Action Says Cranberry Pomegranate Juice Isn’t 100%

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Two Florida consumers are seeking damages from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., arguing in a class action lawsuit filed Thursday that its store brand Great Value 100% Cranberry Pomegranate Juice contains “far less” than the advertised amount of juice prominently advertised on the front label.

Plaintiffs Ira Reynolds and Patricia Bell allege in the Wal-Mart class action lawsuit that they bought Wal-Mart’s Great Value Cranberry Pomegranate Juice with a label that includes the words “100% ,” which they argue leads a reasonable consumer to believe that the product contains 100 percent of the two fruits. They allege in the class action lawsuit that since scientific studies link pomegranate juice as being “helpful in maintaining health and preventing disease” with cardiovascular disease and other maladies, consumers are willing to pay a premium for pure pomegranate juice.

Instead, the Wal-Mart Great Value class action lawsuit alleges that the two juices that form the majority of the product are apple juice and grape juice, which are priced 50 percent lower than the Cranberry Pomegranate blend. As a result, the class action lawsuit alleges that Wal-Mart “knowingly and purposefully failed to disclose to its consumers that the primary ingredients in GV Pomegranate Juice are actually composed of cheap apple and grape juice. To this day, Defendant has taken no meaningful steps to clear up consumers’ misconceptions regarding its product.”

As a result, the consumers reportedly paid unnecessary premiums because consumers are less likely to notice phrasing on the label including “flavored juice blend[,]” “from concentrate with added ingredients” as well as “and other natural flavors.”

The Wal-Mart Great Value class action lawsuit takes pains to note that “state law claims are aimed at the features of the naming and labeling which are voluntary, and not required by the FDA regulations, which Wal-Mart selected in order to maximize the label’s deceptive impact upon Plaintiffs and other consumers.”

This is an important factor because the case law regarding what actions consumers can take regarding deceptive labeling varies among the various federal courts. Some have sought to allow the FDA to handle enforcement on its own, while others, citing a general constraint on resources, have decided to allow these false advertising class action lawsuits. The agency is currently reviewing whether or not it should allow food makers to use the phrase “evaporated cane juice” as a substitute for sugar and the subject of more than a dozen cases in California.

The Wal-Mart Great Value juice class action lawsuit is seeking to represent two proposed Classes of consumers:

1) All persons nationwide who, within the [past four years], purchased Wal-Mart’s Great Value Cranberry Pomegranate Juice called “cranberry pomegranate” juice blend; or

2) All persons in Florida who, within the [past four years], purchased Wal-Mart’s Great Value Cranberry Pomegranate Juice called “cranberry pomegranate” juice blend.

The plaintiffs are represented by class action lawyer Tim Howard of Howard & Associates PA.

The Wal-Mart Great Value Pomegranate Juice Class Action Lawsuit is Reynolds, et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Case No. 14-cv-00381, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.