13, confirming that the company agreed to settle the consumer class action lawsuit to avoid a long and costly legal battle. Harmless Harvest released a statement to Top Class Actions on Jan. The settlement Class includes “all persons in the United States who made retail purchases of one of more of Harmless Harvest’s coconut water products in the United States at any time from September 30, 2011, through the date of Preliminary Approval.” “Plaintiffs believe that the Settlement provides an excellent recovery for Settlement Members and falls well within the range of reasonableness, such that preliminary approval is warranted,” court documents state. Harmless Harvest will also pay claims administration costs up to $350,000. This third party consultant will review the product labels for ongoing accuracy and provide reports as to the accuracy to plaintiffs’ counsel.Īdditionally, the settlement provides payment of plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees in the amount of $575,000 and incentive awards to the four named plaintiffs totaling $20,000. The company has also agreed to engage an independent third party consultant for a period of two years from the effective date of the settlement deal. Specifically, Harmless Harvest has agreed to remove the allegedly false and misleading statements of “100% Organic” and “Raw” from its coconut water products packaging. Under the terms of the settlement, Harmless Harvest will change and monitor the accuracy of its product labels.
The class action lawsuit claims the following four varieties of coconut water are mislabeled: Harmless Harvest 100% Raw Coconut Water (later renamed Harmless Coconut Water), Harmless Harvest 100% Raw Coconut Water – Dark Cacao, Harmless Harvest 100% Raw Coconut Water – Cinnamon & Clove, and Harmless Harvest 100% Raw Coconut Water – Fair Trade Coffee. Instead, the coconut water was false and misleadingly labeled since it contained some non-organic ingredients, reportedly purchased from street vendors and unknown supply sources.
In a swift win for coconut water drinkers, Harmless Harvest has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging deceptive labeling practices.įiled on December 23 in New York federal court, the $1 million settlement was reached just four days later, resolving allegations that a significant portion of the coconuts sourced from Thailand by Harmless Harvest for use in their 100% Raw Coconut Water line were not in fact organic.īrought by plaintiffs Guoliang Ma, Elizabeth Peguero, Sharon Manier, and Kin Fai Lau, the proposed class action lawsuit claims consumers paid a premium for Harmless Harvest Coconut Water relying on the product’s labeling that the coconut water was “100% Organic” and “Raw.”