Dive Brief:
- U.S. District Judge James Otero has yet to rule on summary judgments in a false advertising case involving Coca-Cola and POM Wonderful, which is expected to go to trial beginning March 15 after years of court battles and appeals.
- In 2008, POM brought claims of false advertising and unfair competition against Coca-Cola regarding Coca-Cola's Minute Maid Enhanced Pomegranate Blueberry drink, which POM said was made up of more apple and grape juice than pomegranate or blueberries. Those "economically inferior components" enabled Coca-Cola to undercut prices of competitors, including POM, and turn a large profit, according to the 2008 lawsuit.
- In 2009, the court threw out POM's claim, but in 2014, POM appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court and won a hearing with the U.S. Supreme Court. The case was then brought back, and Coca-Cola has responded with its own claims of false advertising by POM, pointing out POM's ongoing dispute with the FTC as part of its defense.
Dive Insight:
In its tussle with the FTC, POM was accused of misleading consumers in a marketing campaign that ran from 2003 and 2010, which the FTC said over-represented the health benefits of pomegranate juice, including making claims that the juice could treat and prevent diseases, such prostate cancer. However, in the Coca-Cola case, POM's lawyer argued that the FTC never challenged the health attributes of the juice or concluded that the advertising was based on false health claims.
Since its founding in 2002, POM Wonderful has been an active participant in litigation regarding pomegranate juice products, having sued other pomegranate juice manufacturers nearly two dozen times and being sued about 60 times, "often for allegedly overstating the health benefits of pomegranate juice," according to Courthouse News Service.
As the number of beverage industry players increases, so too have beverage lawsuits. Coca-Cola won the original fight in this case, but now having appealed, POM gets another shot at the largest beverage maker in the world.