Ruling Allows Gerber False Advertising Suit To Crawl Onward?

For plaintiffs concerned that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals' June 19, 2015 decision in Brown v. GNC Corp. signaled the muscling in of a stricter new pleading standard for false advertising class actions nationwide, a recent ruling out of the Central District of California likely acted as a pacifier. On July 14, 2015, U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt of the Central District of California held in Zakaria v. Gerber Products Co. that plaintiff's putative class action against Gerber over the advertising of baby food could proceed despite the Fourth Circuit's recent GNC decision.

In Brown v. GNC Corp., plaintiffs alleged that various health claims made on defendant's product packaging were false because "the vast weight of competent and reliable scientific evidence" did not support these claims. The Fourth Circuit held that this wasn't enough to plead falsity. Rather, to adequately plead that a claim was literally false, a plaintiff must allege that, "all