September 2021: The appeal was voluntarily dismissed. (Case No. 20-16576, 9th Cir.)
August 2020: Plaintiffs filed a Notice of Appeal regarding the dismissal.
July 2020: The Court granted Ghirardelli’s motion to dismiss.
April 2020: A federal judge granted the company’s motion to dismiss finding that reasonable consumers would not be misled to believe that the term “white chips” means white chocolate chips, and that the term “Premium” constitutes puffery and is not actionable. Later in April, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint adding information about survey results showing that the marketing misleads reasonable consumers into believing that the product is white chocolate.
November 2019: The case was transferred to federal court. (Case No. 19-cv-7467, N.D. Cal.)
September 2019: A class-action lawsuit was filed against Ghirardelli Chocolate Company for allegedly misleadingly advertising that its Classic White Premium Baking Chips contain white chocolate when, according to plaintiffs, the product does not contain any white chocolate. (Cheslow et al v. Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, Case No. SCV-265203, California State Court – Somona)
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