Hot sauce plaintiff goes cold on false advertising claim
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For reasons unknown, California hot sauce aficionado Phillip White asked a federal court to dismiss his entire lawsuit against TW Garner Food Co. over its Texas Pete hot sauce, which he claimed misled consumers because the sauce was not made in Texas.
And with the food company’s approval, the case was dismissed after a yearlong saga, according to a statement issued by TW Garner.
In September 2022, Mr. White filed his lawsuit alleging that he was “confused” by TW Garner Food Co.’s use of its Texas-named trademark on hot sauce products, which caused him to believe that the products were made in Texas when they were made in North Carolina. He claimed that he would have paid less for a hot sauce made in North Carolina than the approximately $3 that he paid for a hot sauce he believed was made in Texas.
TW Garner Food Co. denied each of Mr. White’s legal claims on numerous grounds, including that the back label of its Texas Pete hot sauce products identifies North Carolina as the geographic source of the products.
