Melendez v. General Mills, Inc.

Background

Dante Melendez and Destiny Morrison filed a proposed class action against General Mills, Inc. They alleged that various Cocoa Puffs cereals, cereal bars, and oat bars contained unsafe amounts of lead and were therefore unfit for safe human consumption. They asserted claims for unjust enrichment, breach of express and implied warranties, fraud by concealment, strict liability, negligent failure to warn, negligent design and formulation, and negligence.

The plaintiffs alleged that they bought Cocoa Puffs cereal for personal household use, did not know that the products could contain lead, and would not have bought them had they known. They sought damages based on the alleged loss of the products’ value and the loss of the benefit of their bargain. They also alleged that they might consider buying the products again if General Mills changed its packaging.

Standing analysis

General Mills moved to dismiss. The court focused on standing, which is the requirement that a plaintiff show a real injury connected to the defendant’s conduct that a court can remedy. The court held that the plaintiffs failed to allege the required injury-in-fact.

The court found that the plaintiffs did not allege that the specific Cocoa Puffs products they bought contained harmful levels of lead, or even that those products contained lead at all. They did not identify testing showing that the products generally contained lead or that their own boxes did. The court relied on Eighth Circuit authority requiring plaintiffs alleging a defective product to show that the product they purchased actually had the alleged defect, rather than merely alleging that a product line carried a risk of the defect.

The court also noted that the plaintiffs did not allege personal injuries or health problems from consuming the products. In the court’s view, stating that lead can harm people, or that the products might contain lead that could cause harm, alleged only a possible future injury rather than a concrete, actual, or imminent injury. The court further noted that neither named plaintiff was a child and that neither alleged having children or feeding them Cocoa Puffs.

Ruling

Judge Katherine Menendez granted General Mills’s motion to dismiss, ECF No. 9. The court dismissed the matter without prejudice for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and directed that judgment be entered.