A BC man who filed a class action lawsuit against Canada Dry for having what he believed to be medicinal properties has been awarded $200,000…sort of.
Victor Cardoso said he had been buying the beverage for years with the promise of containing ‘real ginger’. As many people use ginger for a herbal remedy he thought he was making a healthy medical choice for his family. He had since discovered there is very very little actual ginger in the beverage.
One of the lawyers for Cardoso said “They do buy actual ginger, but then what they do is they boil it in ethanol, and that essentially destroys any nutritional or medicinal benefits,” The ‘real ginger’ is then turned into a concentrate to go into the drink in such a diluted form that one drop is used for 70 cans…that one drop is also 0.05 mls… so not much at all.
While the company argued that they had not made any claims about the beverage having heath benefits his lawyers claimed they had played on the public perception
The company has agreed to pay a settlement of $200,000 but “expressly denies liability and is not required to change its product labelling or advertising for products marketed in Canada,”
Generally with a class action lawsuit each person affected would receive a payout (remember bread-gate?) but because it would be impossible to know how many people had purchased a can or bottle of Canada Dry the payout was given to the BC Law Foundation.
Cardoso didn’t walk away emptied handed though. He was given $1500 for his efforts. He also said the settlement was reasonable and he was satisfied with the result.
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