Los Angeles, CA: A consumer fraud class action lawsuit has been filed against Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc, alleging the restaurant chain falsely states that its menus are free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). It does this, the lawsuit asserts, to attract customers who are health-conscious and who believe that GMOs are unhealthy.
According to the suit, lead plaintiff, Colleen Gallagher, claims she frequented Chipotle because of her reliance on the restaurant chain' long-running "Food With Integrity"ad campaign, and because in April 2015 founder and CEO Steve Ellis announced that the company would no longer serve any food containing GMOs.
"But as Chipotle told consumers it was 'G-M-Over it,' the opposite was true,"the complaint states. "In fact, Chipotle' menu has never been at any time free of GMOs."
The lawsuit contends that Chipotle began disclosing GMO ingredients on its menu in 2013. Later, the company pledged to completely eliminate GMOs from its restaurants in a strategic move to bring in new customers. The campaign ran on billboards, storefronts and a social media campaign, according to Gallagher.
According to the complaint, Chipotle still serves meat, poultry and dairy products, including cheese and sour cream, from animals that consumed GMO soy and corn feed, as well as sodas containing syrup from genetically modified corn, after telling its customers that all of its ingredients are non-GMO. By leveraging peoples' fears about GMO foods, specifically that these foods could somehow impact their health, Chipotle was able to charge a premium for its products.
In the lawsuit, Gallagher concedes that Chipotle has posted a disclaimer on its website explaining that some of its soft drinks contain GMO corn syrup and that its meat and dairy products come from animals raised on GMO grains but said the company didn't explicitly label GMO ingredients online.
"More importantly, Chipotle only discloses this information on its website because it knows its fast-food customers never need to visit Chipotle' website to buy food, and are highly unlikely to seek out this information when simply deciding where to get lunch or dinner,"the complaint states.
The complaint claimes Chipotle knew that its food wasn't free of GMOs and cited articles referring to its plan to eliminate GMOs as gimmicky "corporate deception," accusing the company of using its reputation for corporate responsibility to manipulate a trusting consumer base.
Chipotle is accused by the plaintiff of violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by misbranding its food and proposed a class of all Californians who purchased the company' products since it made its GMO-free announcement in April, estimating that class to include tens of thousands of members.
Further, the lawsuit asserts that Chipotle is in violation of California' False Advertising Law, Consumer Legal Remedies Act and Unfair Competition Law and requested damages along with either restitution or disgorgement of any ill-gotten gains.
Gallagher is represented by Laurence D. King, Linda M. Fong, Matthew B. George, Mario M. Choi, Frederic S. Fox and Donald R. Hall of Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP. The case is Gallagher v. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., case number 3:15-cv-03952, in the U.S. District Court for California' Northern District.
