Suchanek v. Sturm Foods, Inc., No. 13-3843 (7th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseBefore the patents expired (2012) for the individual coffee pods used in Keurig coffeemakers, defendants wanted to enter the market for Keurig‐compatible pods. In 2010 they introduced a product that used the external K‐Cup design, but did not contain a filter so that use of fresh coffee grounds was impossible. They used small chunks of freeze‐dried brewed coffee that dissolve and are reconstituted when hot water is added. The packaging stated in small font that it contained “naturally roasted soluble and microground Arabica coffee”; it never explained that soluble coffee is instant coffee or that the pods contained 95% instant coffee. The package included a warning: “DO NOT REMOVE the foil seal as the cup will not work properly in the coffee maker and could result in hot water burns.” Except to ensure that the user did not view the contents of the pod, this made no sense. Customers began to complain and were told that the pods were “not instant coffee” but “a high quality coffee bean pulverized into a powder so fine that [it] will dissolve,” which was largely false. Consumer protection lawsuits were consolidated. The district court refused to certify a class and granted summary judgment. The Seventh Circuit reversed. Plaintiffs’ claims and those of the class they propose all derive from a single course of conduct. The court overlooked genuine issues of fact when it granted summary judgment.
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