Advertisement
Canada markets open in 2 hours 5 minutes
  • S&P/TSX

    22,107.08
    +194.56 (+0.89%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,248.49
    +44.91 (+0.86%)
     
  • DOW

    39,760.08
    +477.75 (+1.22%)
     
  • CAD/USD

    0.7360
    -0.0012 (-0.16%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    82.40
    +1.05 (+1.29%)
     
  • Bitcoin CAD

    96,275.96
    +1,013.28 (+1.06%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,232.00
    +19.30 (+0.87%)
     
  • RUSSELL 2000

    2,114.35
    +44.19 (+2.13%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.1960
    0.0000 (0.00%)
     
  • NASDAQ futures

    18,494.50
    -9.25 (-0.05%)
     
  • VOLATILITY

    12.98
    +0.20 (+1.56%)
     
  • FTSE

    7,956.22
    +24.24 (+0.31%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     
  • CAD/EUR

    0.6815
    +0.0010 (+0.15%)
     

Missouri man sues Folgers, claims it ‘grossly misrepresented’ amount of coffee per can

A Cass County man is the latest to sue Folgers Coffee Co. and its parent company The J.M. Smucker Co. challenging the accuracy of the serving sizes and quantity listed on Folger’s coffee canisters.

Mark Smith filed the lawsuit last week in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City seeking class action status contending that Folgers and Smucker have “grossly misrepresented the number of cups of coffee” that can be made from its canisters.

Smith contends that the canisters do not contain enough ground coffee to make the number of services listed on the canisters.

“It is a classic and unlawful bait-and-switch scheme that causes unsuspecting consumers to spend more money for less than the advertised amount of coffee they believe they are purchasing,” he said according to the lawsuit.

ADVERTISEMENT

Folgers has sought to have the class action claims dismissed, contending in part that it offers two recommended methods for achieving the best results when making coffee.

  • One makes a single serving by using 6 ounces of cold water and 1 tablespoon of coffee. That is the method based on the plaintiff lawsuits.

  • The other method makes a pot of 10 servings by using 60 ounces of water and a half cup of ground coffee. That method uses less coffee, Folgers contends.

Based on mathematical calculations, the lawsuit contends that 42 varieties of Folgers coffee canisters contain enough ground coffee on average to make only 68.29% of the number of servings promised on the packaging.

The lawsuit is the latest in several similar lawsuit echoing similar claims against Folgers and J.M. Smucker Co. Several of those cases have been consolidated to into a multidistrict litigation in federal court in Kansas City.

Because consumers have different preferences for making coffee, Folgers uses the words “up to” when talking about how much coffee a canister would make, according to court documents.

A federal judge earlier this year agreed with Folgers in one of the cases, finding that: “’Up to’ a certain number of cups of coffee would lead a reasonable consumer to expect that the actual number of coffee cups produced could be less. ‘Up to’ is not a guarantee that the number of cups will be reached.”

The judge dismissed that lawsuit but allowed the plaintiff to amend and refile the lawsuit.