In a thorough 50-page opinion handed down on August 9, Judge Karas of the Southern District of New York denied in part Defendant Anheuser-Busch’s motion to dismiss in Cooper, et al., v. Anheuser-Busch, LLC, No. 20-CV-7451 (KMK), 2021 WL 3501203 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 9, 2021). Plaintiffs Tanya Cooper and Joseph Rose allege that Defendant falsely advertises its “Ritas” line of cocktail products with names such as “margaritas,” “mojitos,” “sangria,” and “rosé” when the products do not contain any distilled liquor or wine. Instead, the products contain malt liquor flavored to taste like the classic cocktails. Importantly, Plaintiffs’ claims under New York’s General Business Law §§ 349 and 350 survived the motion to dismiss. Faruqi & Faruqi represents Plaintiffs and the putative Class in the matter.
The decision follows another big win for Faruqi & Faruqi in a related matter. In Browning, et al. v. Anheuser-Busch, LLC, No. 20-CV-00889-SRB, 2021 WL 1940645 (W.D. Mo. May 13, 2021), Faruqi & Faruqi was able to defeat a substantially similar motion to dismiss concerning Missouri causes of action relating to the same challenged conduct.
A copy of the Cooper order can be found here. A copy of the Browning order can be found here.