Class Actions and the Candy Bar

Wall Street Journal ^ | January 8, 2024 | Editorial Board

[billorites]

Life may not be like a box of chocolates, but a shakedown is what you’re always gonna get from trial attorneys. Consider the class-action lawsuit filed late last month against Hershey Co. over its Reese’s candy.

At issue is whether Hershey fudged on the packaging of seasonal treats. Recent wrappers showed tiny eyes and mouths on chocolate pumpkins and ghosts, but the candy inside was faceless. Similarly, the chocolate football inside “contains no carving for the laces” as depicted on the wrapper.

Anthony Russo of the Florida-based Russo Firm says this has caused untold hardship to his client Cynthia Kelly and “not less than 100” and perhaps even “thousands” of other chocoholics. “This is a trick, not a treat,” the suit quotes from one online review. The complaint says a YouTuber was left “flabbergasted” after “you open up the packet and you are presented with that monstrosity.” Without the stitching, the chocolate football “LOOKS LIKE EGGS!!” another graphic in the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit alleges that the candy maker—and its subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers and their employees—“furthered a common scheme to induce members of the public” to buy these seasonal chocolates “by means of untrue, misleading, deceptive, and/or fraudulent representations.” The complaint says this violates Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Hershey declined to comment, but it must be finding this more bitter than sweet. The lawyer is seeking $5 million or more, and the guess is he’ll gladly settle if Hershey writes a fat check for the lawsuit to go away. America’s tort system really is nuts.

[Daveinyork]

York peppermint pies are no longer made in York. I live in York. Can I sue?

[MeganC]

Hershey’s in particular. The bag that used to be one pound is now six ounces and sells for five to six times as much as a pound used to.

[Vaduz]

Bring back penny size candy it’s all you need anyway.