Nestle S.A.’s bid to dismiss a revised lawsuit filed (Patane v. Nestle Waters North America Inc, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut, No. 17-01381) against it for alleged defrauding its consumers through its Poland Spring water by filling its bottles with ordinary groundwater instead of the Poland Spring water was rejected by a U.S. federal high court on Thursday, 28th March, 2019.
According to a U.S. District Judge, Jeffrey Alker Meyer, consumers from eight northeastern states may pursue claims that Nestle Waters North America deceived them into overpaying by labeling Poland Spring as “100% Natural Spring Water” when the content were ordinary ground water.
The New Haven, Connecticut-based judge allowed claims on behalf of consumers from Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and Connecticut. The judge however stated that the federal law preempted claims from Vermont consumers.
In an earlier version dismissed in May, 2018 Jeffrey Alker Meyer, Nestle Waters denied defrauding its consumers as it argued that there was “no fraud” as the water met the various states’ requirements.
According to a statement released by a Nestle Water spokeswoman on Thursday 28th March, 2019, she stated that, “We remain highly confident in our legal position and will continue to defend our Poland Spring brand vigorously against this meritless lawsuit. Poland Spring brand natural spring water is just what it says it is — 100 percent natural spring water.”
The amended complaint filed against Nestle stated that, “Nestle Waters sells 1 billion gallons of Poland Spring a year in the United States, and “not one drop” of its water emanates from a water source that qualifies as a genuine legal natural spring.”
The complainants further clarified that, “The actual Poland Spring in Maine, which the defendant’s label said is a source of Poland Spring water, “commercially ran dry” nearly 50 years ago.”
In an earlier dismissal by Jeffrey Alker Meyer, he stated that he plaintiffs were trying merely to enforce guidelines for spring water under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and that this preempted their state law claims. But in Thursday 28th March, 2019 decision, he said he was “convinced” the plaintiffs would try to show only that Poland Spring water did not meet the states’ individual spring water standards, though they appeared to “mirror” the federal standard.