Dole Packaged Foods Defeats False Advertising Class Action

Dole Packaged Foods, LLC (Dole) defeated a false advertising class action challenging the labeling of a wide swath of its fruit-based products. In Broussard v. Dole Packaged Foods, LLC, plaintiffs alleged that the labeling of various Dole canned fruit, fruit parfaits, gels and juice products created the impression that the products were “healthy," which plaintiffs claimed was misleading because of the amount of “free" or added sugar in the products. Plaintiffs challenged as misleading several label statements, including “It's our promise to provide everyone, everywhere with good nutrition!" and “Dole Fruit Bowls® seal in goodness and nutrition." In 2024, Judge Haywood Gilliam granted Dole's motion to dismiss the original complaint but gave plaintiffs leave to amend. The Faegre Drinker team moved to dismiss again, arguing that the additional allegations in the amended complaint about the use of the term “good nutrition" in unrelated contexts did not change the analysis. The court agreed. On March 13, 2025, the court dismissed the amended complaint without leave to amend, concluding that the challenged statements were non-actionable puffery and would not mislead reasonable consumers, and that the statements about “nutrition" were true because the products do contain nutrition.