a Florida Woman is suing makers of Velveeta microwavable macaroni and cheese for $5mclaims that Kraft Heinz Foods Co. is misleading customers with promises that pasta will be ready in three and a half minutes.
In court documents filed Nov. 18, attorneys for Amanda Ramirez, of Hialeah, Florida, claim that the food actually took longer than the advertised time to prepare, causing the woman to pay a price premium for instant meals that cost less than $1,000. It doesn’t happen immediately.
In court filings, Mr. Ramirez’s lawyers say she “looks at bold statements of price when quickly choosing groceries” and “paid more for the product than she would have paid and bought it no more or for less.” would have paid if he knew the truth”.
The suit, a class action on behalf of customers in Florida, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Utah, New Mexico, Alaska, Iowa, Tennessee and Virginia, seeks $5m as well as punitive damages.
It accused Kraft of violating Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act; Consumer Fraud Acts of the states; as well as various other federal laws against deceptive practices.
“We are aware of this frivolous lawsuit and will vigorously defend the allegations in the complaint,” the company told CNN,
One of Ms Ramirez’s lawyers, Will Wright, said he was aware some might consider the trial frivolous, but there is an important principle involved.
“There are a lot of people who may feel that this is just a little lie and that is not really the case and I get it,” he said. told npr, “But we are striving for something better. We want corporate America to be straightforward and truthful in advertising its products.”
One of the attorneys behind the case, Spencer Sheehan, is a New York-based attorney known for Registering a large number of such cases— sometimes up to three a week — on questions such as whether Tostitos “Hint of Lime” chips have enough citrus juice to justify the label, and whether Kellogg’s Strawberry PopTart accurately represents the amount of fruit.