Minute Maid Wins Lawsuit

B

y now, most of us are aware that refrigerated "juice" that you buy at the grocery store isn't usually properly labeled—most of the orange juice is from concentrate, many of the blends are just apple and grape juice, etc. As for Minute Maid, they've just settled a lawsuit that claimed they were misrepresenting a product labeled Pomegranate and Blueberry, because the beverage only contains .3% pomegranate juice and .2% blueberry juice. That's right, decimals-of-a-percent.

All but .1% of the drink is apple and grape juice, which are much cheaper than pomegranate and blueberry juices.

A federal appeals court dismissed the case last week, though. Pom Wonderful, who filed the suit, accused Minute Maid (which is owned by Coca-Cola, a Pom rival) of false labeling and advertising.

As for the other 99.5% of the juice, all but .1% of it is apple and grape juice, which are much cheaper than pomegranate and blueberry juices.

But the reason why it skated past everyone, most likely, is that below the large letters that read "Pomegranate Blueberry," smaller letters read "flavored blend of 5 juices."

The suit has been on the books since 2008, and the court told a federal judge in Los Angeles to reconsider the suit's state-law claims regarding what's legal for juice regulations, but Coca-Cola doesn't seem worried.

"We are confident that the [judge] will dismiss what little is left of Pom's baseless claims," the company said.

While it makes sense that the suit has been dismissed, the idea that paying close to $5 for a half gallon or so of juice when it's really worth, say, $2, is kind of ridiculous, especially when the big letters on the front aren't in line with what the product really is.