Peet’s Cheats? Coffee Lawsuit claims Short-Pouring Going On

November 12th, 2015. By LucyC

A few weeks ago, a man in Winnetka, Illinois filed a lawsuit against a national coffee and tea chain, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, alleging he has been cheated for the past five years. Specifically, he claims the amount of coffee he’s been served versus the amount of coffee advertised (and for which he’s paid) are different—he’s gotten less than promised—of course. And now he’s going to do something about it.

He’s waited five years to say something and this is how he does it? Ok—where do you start?

Well, let’s try the facts—which shouldn’t take long. On October 29, Robert Garret’s attorney, Alexander Loftus, filed a complaint on behalf of his client and presumable “others similarly situated”, in Cook County Circuit Court against Peet’s, which is based in Emerysville, California. The Peet’s lawsuit claims that for several years now the company has shorted its customers on the amount of coffee they receive when ordering either 12-ounce or 32-ounce cups of Peet’s Press Pot coffee.

A 32 oz cup of coffee? Seriously? Why not just get an enema? To put this in perspective for all of you Starbucks folks, that’s like downing a Venti coffee and then ordering another Tall one for the road.

I digress. Back to the facts, such as they are. According to the complaint, the menu board at the coffeehouses state those sizes, and customers may believe they are paying for those sizes. BUT, “in fact,” they receive significantly less coffee. For instance, the complaint asserted the largest cup in which beverages are sold at Peet’s can only hold 24 ounces of coffee. “Only”? “In truth, they are at least 25 percent less than the advertised volume,” Garrett’s complaint stated. He’s certainly observant.

The complaint goes on, no surprise, to state that the volumes referenced on the menu board may actually refer to the size of the French press devices in which the coffee is steeped. BUT, the complaint states that by referencing the volumes on the menu board, Peet’s intended to fool customers into believing they are actually receiving that much coffee.

“Defendants (Peet’s) have engaged in conduct designed to induce, or having the affect (sic) of inducing, consumers to believe that they are receiving materially more ounces of press coffee for their money than they actually are,” the complaint said.

Conversely, getting the full 32 oz of coffee could surely induce a few things as well, but clearly Garrett is willing to accept any side effects there.

Garrett claims that the French Press coffee is the only beverage Peet’s sells by specific volume. Everything else is sold by general sizes such as small, medium and large. 32 ounces would, I feel safe in saying, constitute super-sized large. In fact, it’s up there in Big Gulp territory (quick factoid: the original BG debuted at 32 oz back in 1976).

FYI—Garrett states that he buys his Peet’s coffee at the chain’s store at 817 Elm Street, Winnetka. (Is there no store manager he could have spoken with about this?) He believes there are thousands of others who ordered Peet’s Press Pot coffee at the chain’s nearly 250 locations nationwide who could join his lawsuit, should the court allow it to proceed as a class action. Well, it is a pressing matter—ha ha—pardon the pun but I couldn’t resist.

According to the potential class action, Peet’s actions have violated state consumer fraud laws, and constituted breach of contract and unjust enrichment. Garrett has asked the court to award unspecified compensatory damages and fees for himself and other members of the putative class.

What about coffee for life? Bring your own cup…

This was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2015 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Class Action, Crazy Sh*t Lawyers See . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.