Monrovia's Naked Juice Sued Again for False Advertising

Lawsuits are piling up against Monrovia-based Naked Juice Company from people who claim that the company falsely advertised its products as "all natural" even though they're full of synthetic ingredients.

The first class action federal lawsuit was filed on Sept. 27 by a Texas woman who said she was duped into purchasing Naked products by "false and deceptive" claims made on the bottles of the company's juice drinks like "Blue Machine" and "Green Monster."

"As a result of their false and misleading labeling, (Naked Juice was) able to sell these products to hundreds of thousands of consumers throughout the United States and to profit handsomely from these transactions," wrote attorney Yvette Golan, on behalf of her client Sara Sandys, in the civil complaint.

Golan said in an interview Tuesday that two additional "copycat" lawsuits have since been filed in federal court that make the same claims made by her client, as well as a fourth federal suit that makes different allegations. Additionally, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that a Los Angeles woman sued the company, which has headquarters at 1333 S. Mayflower Avenue, for false advertising in state court earlier this week.

Golan didn't know what claims the most recent suit makes but said she suspects they are the same allegations made by her client.

"They haven't told me that they're filing their own case, I haven't seen the allegations, but I'm almost certain that it's already in our complaint," she said.

A court could eventually decide to combine all the cases into one class action, Golan said.

The main allegations made by Golan's client are that Naked Juice's products contain synthetic ingredients and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) even though they're "misleadingly" labelled as "all natural," and "non-GMO."

Representatives from Naked Juice, which is owned by PepsiCo, could not be reached for comment. Andrea Foote, a spokeswoman for the company, told the Times that the company does not comment on pending litigation as a matter of policy.

"We stand behind the juices that we craft and we’re committed to full compliance with labeling laws and regulations," Foote told the paper.

In addition to synthetic ingredients listed on some bottles, Golan's firm hired a third party that tested Naked Juice's products and determined that they contained GMOs, Golan said. One of the ingredients used in Naked Juice products is Fibersol-2, "a proprietary synthetic digestion-resistant fiber produced by Archer Daniels Midland and developed by a Japanese chemical company," according to the lawsuit.

"Even if the synthetic ingredients are safe--or even beneficial--they are still not what consumers consented to ingesting, and they are still not what (Naked Juice) warranted they were providing," the lawsuit says.

Naked Juice must respond in writing to the allegations by Dec. 5, Golan said.