Be careful what you claim about your product or services – it can become a costly lawsuit!
The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act (DTPA) protects consumers against false, misleading, and deceptive business practices, unconscionable actions, and breaches of warranty and to provide efficient and economical procedures to secure such protection.
Business owners need to understand how their marketing and advertising could be construed as negligent misrepresentation, breach of warranty, fraud, or unjust enrichment under this law.
Some of the recent examples of lawsuits across the country can provide examples of how making claims about a product can be the basis of possible lawsuits:
A proposed class of cheese buyers alleged deli foods company Dietz & Watson Inc.'s smoked provolone is falsely advertised because the company uses "smoke flavor" instead of actually smoking the cheese over burning wood chips.
Cheese aficionados said earlier this month that TGI Fridays' mozzarella sticks don't contain any mozzarella cheese and are actually made with cheddar.
In October, the makers of Häagen-Dazs ice cream were hit with allegations that their ice cream bars are falsely advertised as being dipped in milk chocolate despite the presence of vegetable oil among their ingredients.
"Frosted Strawberry" Pop-Tart buyers in September accused Kellogg's of misleading them about the strawberry content in their pastry product, saying while the label implies only strawberries are used, the ingredients list includes other fruits.
The Procter & Gamble Co. was accused of fibbing in its advertisements that Tide Purclean laundry detergent is entirely plant-based, as one of the cleaning aid ingredients is derived from petroleum.
Having legal counsel as part of your team can help to try and identify risk factors for your key marketing strategies is critical. Our business attorney offers virtual general counsel services to become a cost-efficient part of your leadership team to ensure that issues like this are proactively addressed.
For more information about our services or to schedule a consultation, please get in touch with us by calling (210) 761-6294 or contacting us online.