NEW ORLEANS – A Louisiana woman has filed a class action complaint against the maker of a popular line of avocado oil products, alleging the company has misled consumers such as herself about the products’ purity.
Plaintiff Karoline Hebert filed her class action complaint in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
In her 35-page complaint, she alleges defendant Chosen Foods LLC committed breach of express warranty, fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, redhibition, and violated the Louisiana Unfair Trade Practices Act.
According to the complaint, a defect is redhibitory when it renders the thing sold either useless, or its use is so inconvenient or imperfect that it must be presumed a buyer would not have bought the thing had he or she known of the defect, or he or she would have bought it for a lesser price.
Chosen Foods manufactures, markets, and distributes a line of avocado oil products, including bottled avocado oil, avocado oil sprays, avocado oil mayonnaise, and avocado oil salad dressings and marinades.
The company markets itself as “America’s #1 Avocado Oil” and describes itself as one of the few avocado oil brands on the market that can guarantee its products are 100 percent pure.
“Defendant has told consumers that it tests every batch of its oil, that it can trace its supply chain from the avocado grove to the bottle, and that its purity commitment covers its avocado oils and its sprays alike,” the complaint states.
Avocado oil is considered a premium product that commands a substantially higher price than conventional vegetable oils like soybean, sunflower, canola, and safflower oil.
Hebert had purchased Chosen Foods’ avocado oil spray and its classic mayo, believing the company’s marketing about the products’ purity, her filing states.
However, in a July study by the University of California Davis, researchers studied avocado oil purity beginning in 2020 and found that Chosen Foods’ classic and vegan mayo, its lemon garlic dressing and marinade, and zesty Italian dressing and marinade all failed authenticity testing.
“Defendant did not dispute that its own products were tested or that they failed,” the complaint states. “Instead, Defendant publicly maintained that it never adds seed oils of any kind, even as the Texas Attorney General opened an industry-wide investigation and issued Defendant a civil investigative demand to determine whether Defendant violated Texas consumer protection law.”
In August, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an industry-wide investigation into companies marketing products as “made with avocado oil.”
Chosen Foods, along with Primal Kitchen and Siete Foods, received a civil investigative demand from the attorney general’s office to determine whether it violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act
Chosen Foods has made the absence of seed oils a centerpiece of its national advertising, Hebert’s lawsuit contends.
In January, the company launched a national advertising campaign, “Chosen to Save Food,” aimed at ridding grocery shelves of what it characterized as seedy ingredients.
“Defendant told consumers that it starts with ‘the same pure avocado oil’ in its mayonnaise and dressings that goes into its cooking oils, and that for years all of its avocado oil has been tested for purity, internally and by third parties, before it goes into any of its products,” Hebert’s proposed class action states.
“What Defendant has done, as to its tested mayonnaise and dressing products, is economic adulteration: the avocado oil its labeling promises was substituted with, or diluted by, cheaper refined vegetable and seed oils, while Defendant continued to charge consumers the premium that ‘100% Pure Avocado Oil’ commands across its entire product line, including the Spray.”
Hebert’s suit contends that Chosen Foods’ representations used to sell its products – that its purity is ‘guaranteed’ and is verified by testing of every batch – were false and misleading.
“Either the represented testing did not occur as described, or it failed to detect what independent testing detected in eight out of eight lots,” the filing states.
“Plaintiff and the Class paid a premium for one thing and received, or bore an undisclosed and material risk of receiving, another.”
According to the suit, the proposed class consists of more than 100 members and the claims of the class members exceed $5 million.
The suit seeks nominal damages, punitive or exemplary damages, statutory damages, treble damages, pre- and post-judgment interest and attorney fees.
It also seeks an injunction requiring Chosen Foods to cease representing its products as pure avocado oil or “guaranteed” pure, disclose the products’ true composition, implement independent third-party testing, and engage in “corrective advertising.”
The suit also seeks an order prohibiting the company from making the “100% Pure Avocado Oil” representation unless and until the products are, in fact, made with avocado oil.
New Orleans firm Daly & Black PC is representing Hebert in the suit and seeks to be class counsel.
