Steve Levine, writing for Open Class Actions, reports that a federal judge in Chicago will let the McRib class action go forward. Four consumers say the name and the rib-shaped patty promise rib meat, and the sandwich has none. McDonald’s says the patty is 100% pork from U.S. farmers and flatly denies the more colorful allegations about what else goes in.
Judge April M. Perry kept the deception, fraud and unjust enrichment claims alive, so this heads to discovery. For in-house teams the lesson travels well past fast food: product names and pictures are claims, and a plaintiff’s lawyer reads them literally. Hershey won its uncarved Reese’s pumpkin case and still changed the packaging. If marketing is naming a product this week, invite legal to the brainstorm, and keep our guide to managing litigation handy. More like this in our weird, wacky and funny file.
“She called it premature to accept McDonald’s argument that no reasonable consumer could expect the McRib to contain rib meat, and wrote that the plaintiffs’ reading of the name is “not unreasonable or fanciful,” according to Reuters.”
Read: Judge Lets McRib Class Action Against McDonald’s Proceed Over Claim It Has No Rib Meat at Open Class Actions