The California Fourth Appellate District has ruled on when a reasonable consumer would expect white baking chips to be white chocolate.
In Salazar v. Walmart, Inc., published September 19, 2022, David Salazar sued Walmart, Inc. in a class action for unfair competition, false advertising, and violation of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act when he discovered the White Baking Chips he purchased contained no white chocolate. The chips were found on a store shelf next to milk chocolate goodies. Walmart demurred to the Complaint claiming no reasonable consumer would believe White Baking Chips contained real white chocolate. The trial court agreed and sustained the demurrer without leave to amend and entered judgment for Walmart. Salazar appealed.
The Appellate Court reversed the judgment. The Appellate Court found that, even though nowhere on the product labeling did it say it included white chocolate, the use and placement of the product and the word “White” in the labeling a reasonable consumer might have been misled. It thus reversed the judgment to allow Salazar to prove to a trier of fact that a reasonable consumer would be misled to believe White Baking Chips contain white chocolate. A sweet interim win for Salazar.
If there is one takeaway for business from this case is avoid the potential for misleading consumers. It would have been easy enough for Walmart to have placed under the name “White Baking Chips” a notice that it does not contain white chocolate to avoid any misunderstanding. If you are unsure about the name of your consumer product, contact your business attorney and vet with them the best way to avoid this type of costly litigation. Maybe meet over a nice hot chocolate.
The information presented is not intended to be, and does not constitute, “legal advice.” Because each situation varies, and only brief summary information is provided here, you should not use this information as a basis for action unless you have independently verified with your own counsel that it applies to your particular situation.
