Class Certification Granted in Suit Against Green Mountain Coffee

Elizabeth DiNardo, Esq. | Associate Counsel

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On September 21, 2020, class certification was granted in federal court in the Northern District of California to a class of consumers who allege that popular Keurig single-serve coffee pod brand, Green Mountain Inc., intentionally misled consumers regarding the recyclability of its product.

The complaint was originally filed on September 28, 2018, by named plaintiff Kathleen Smith. In the complaint, Smith alleges that consumers purchased Green Mountain Coffee products based upon the defendant’s false representations that the coffee pods were recyclable. However, the plaintiff alleges that although the pods are made from Polypropylene plastic, a material which is accepted for recycling in around 61% of communities in the United States, domestic municipal recycling facilities (“MRFs”) are not equipped to capture materials as small as coffee pods and separate them from the general waste stream. The plaintiff argues that had she and her fellow class members been aware that the defendant coffee pods were not in fact recyclable, they would not have purchased the product.

The plaintiff represents a class made up of all persons who purchased Keurig Green Mountain Coffee Pods for personal, family or household purposes in California, either directly or through an agent, from June 16, 2016 through the present. The suit brings causes of action for breach of express warranty, violation of the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law and unjust enrichment.

The case is: Kathleen Smith v. Keurig Green Mountain Inc., Case No.: 4:18-cv-06690, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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