War of the Pomegranate Juice Companies Leads to $1.5 Million Settlement in Damages
In 2007, a false advertising and misleading marketing lawsuit was filed by POM Wonderful against rival juice company Purely Juice for stating that their product is 100% pomegranate juice. POM Wonderful, who worked in conjunction with seven independent labs, found that the product Purely Juice was selling was not purely juice but in fact contained primarily cane sugar and corn sweetener and little pomegranate solids.
The court ruling, which was filed in the Central District of California, specifically noted that "Purely Juice’s advertising from January 7, 2007 to August 30, 2007 was literally false, as demonstrated by the independent tests performed by seven different laboratories. Although Purely Juice claimed that its adulterated "100% Pomegranate" product consisted of "100% pomegranate juice" and contained "NO added sugar or sweeteners," independent laboratory testing of the juice found these statements to have been false."
The two companies finally settled earlier this week, with Purely Juice agreeing to pay POM Wonderful $1.5 million in damages. Purely Juice, who relies on a broker to get their juice, admits that there may have been sugar added to their incoming supplies in 2007 and claims that after dealing with the issue internally have had no issues since. Purely Juice returned jabs against POM Wonderful, claiming that they have been bullying nearly a dozen pomegranate juice makers in campaigns to damage their reputations.
