Godiva chocolate’s slogan is “Look, smell, listen, feel and taste that’s what Godiva chocolate is all about.” While “read” is not one of the senses, Kevin Fahey believes that “what Godiva is all about” is simple fraud. Belgium fraud. In his complaint, Fahey is suing the chocolatier for $74,000 after spending $15 on bars that read “Belgian 126” but are not in fact made in Belgian. In fact, the bars read “Belgian 1926” because that is the date of the founding of the company which has factories in both Belgium and Pennsylvania.
Fahey insists that this is a “massive fraud” since “The reasonable consumer would interpret this to mean to the contents are made in Belgium.”
His theory is that people are paying a premium for non-premium chocolate.
This is a lawsuit that is certain to end in a bitter dismissal for Fahey, who should try to get the key language correct in the complaint if he is asserting that it caused a massive fraud.
However, the company is facing a more serious circuit split now on a different issue involving its credit card practices. In Muransky v. Godiva Chocolatier, Inc., the Eleventh Circuit ruled that consumers have standing to pursue claims for violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act’s (FACTA) “truncation” rule against Godiva. Merchants are prohibited from printing “more than the last 5 digits of the credit card number or the expiration date” on a receipt. This is a huge fight over standing with the Second, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits on the other side.
What is this plaintiff thinking with?
As the aforementioned “reasonable customer” myself (among others), I can’t understand how it could be interpreted that the chocolate he is purchasing came from Belgium. There is no place on the label where it says, “Made in Belgium,” and in fact according to the plaintiff’s own account, it clearly states that it is made in Pennsylvania.
On a related note, what would this person claim if the label said, “Dutch Chocolate”? Dutch chocolate is a specific variant made by changing the acid content of the cocoa; it is not limited to production in a Dutch nation.
I could also wonder what he would think if the label said, “Milk Chocolate.” Would he equate that with chocolate milk? I don’t know; I’m just asking.
“Dutch chocolate” refers to chocolate which has been processed with alkalis to mellow its taste. The analogy to “Belgian chocolate” is direct and obvious. This lawsuit is testimony to the sad decline of American public education.
We are such a litigious society.
I ride English. I am not riding actually in England. I’ve ridden Dutch warmbloods who never lived in Holland. It’s a breed, not a nationality. Same with Swedish Warmblood. A Tennessee Walker probably never set hoof in TN. My Arabians are American horses. I roasted a chicken using a French recipe in a Dutch oven. A classic French omelet has that tender, small curd, and no browning at all. Rather a custard texture, plus it often has the classic herbs of chervil, tarragon, chives, and parsley. It’s a style, not a country of origin.
Is there any common sense in the courts anymore? Unless it says “made in Belgium” then it is not.
First World worries. Hope Kevin Fahey has to pay Godiva’s legal expenses defending against the Mother of All Frivolous Lawsuits.
Godiva deserves whatever damages they have to pay for sloppy privacy practices.
The attorney who filed the complaint is named Kevin Fahey. Send him back to Ireland.
In your language it would be like confusing someone from indus Valley region with a Cherokee and we know how far that gets people.
The dude is going to lose big time. Belgian is a ‘type.’ Belgian 1926 is a type or estilo meaning style and it’s date. Belgium is a country, a place. He’s trying to sue as to the place what should be the type. Furthermore it’ s not unusual to modify a recipe to local tastes.
Having accounted for all of the complaint maybe we should file one for imitating a Democrat by suing for using the phrase Democracy. or better yet sue which one of the media clowns decided to assign the colors of the Socialist Communist Party to one that is decidedly not of that shade but is of three stripes. Red, White, and Blue.
Que Cosas?
“Look, smell, listen, feel and taste that’s what Godiva chocolate is all about.”
– Professor Turley
The good professor stealthily and innocuously situates this declaration immediately below the titillating and suggestive Lady Godiva Painting by John Collier. Educators certainly do have a rough lot in life. I think I finally grasp the profundity of Sting’s “Don’t stand, don’t stand, don’t stand so close to me.”
_____________
“Don’t stand, don’t stand, don’t stand so close to me.”
Don’t Stand So Close to Me
The Police
Young teacher the subject
Of schoolgirl fantasy
She wants him so badly
Knows what she wants to be
Inside her there’s no room
This girl’s an open page
Book marking she’s so close now
This girl is half his age
Don’t stand so close to me
Her friends are so jealous
You know how bad girls get
Sometimes it’s not so easy
To be the teacher’s pet
Temptation, frustration
So bad it makes him cry
Wet bus stop, she’s waiting
His car is warm and dry
Don’t stand so close to me
Loose talk in the classroom
To hurt they try and try
Strong words in the staffroom
The accusations fly
It’s no use
He sees her
He starts to shake he starts to cough
Just like the old man in
That famous book by Nabakov
Don’t stand so close to me
Very little of the ‘Made or Manufactured or etc.’ is worth much if anything. KIA a few years ago off loaded vehicles in Fife, Washington. A slight curburetor mounting bracket adjustment was made, A pin stripe added to the left and right body panels and SOME but not all got an AC unit installed. Not made in USA but made in South Korea Also a Made in USA claim. parts made at the maquiladores shops in Mexicos and shipped to car factories in Mexico, USA and Canada intermingle with parts from China. Then we have made in where ever and destroyed as a commodity in USA referring t that DEQ hoax involving some so tiny that it took a special milllion dollar machine to detect amount of something or another occured. Vehicles promptly shipped to Mexico and sold their had no trouble entering the USA. and the big VW BFD? amngst others. vehicles now made whollyin mexico and shipped all over the world.
Must of that garbage you read on the stickers etc are meaningless unless you possess the books with the full explanation.
The only real difference is cost when it’s made in USA in a plant without immigration controls that our President wants and our socialists do not want. As a group the left is really not very Green at all unless a payment is involved.
His sub terrainian IQ, was the culprit here.
Swiss chocolate is far better than Belgian chocolate. I’ve had both n their respective countries. It’s not even close.
The plaintiff should be counter sued for defamation of America.
The man who sues should be put in a “manhole” in Berkeley, CA and only be let out when he shows his real parts.
Someone might explain to him that geographic identifiers indicate a genre, not the location of manufacture. ‘Italian food’ doesn’t mean cooked in Palermo and FedEx’d to our restaurant. Unless it says ‘made in Belgium’ or ‘imported from Belgium’, his complaint is silly.
‘Consumer advocacy’ was all the rage ca. 1974, when Ralph Nader was riding high. If you didn’t realize he was a crank, you learned PDQ when he was charging the purveyors of orange juice concentrate with ‘watering’ their product and thus ‘defrauding consumers’.
“parmesan” cheese from Wisconsin is a joke. There is a huge taste difference when compared with the real thing.
The Parmesan in my refrigerator was produced by a company with plants in New York, Wisconsin, and Idaho. It tastes fine. Some brands are better than others and some are marketed to segment A and some to segment B. (One thing marketers commonly understand is how to reach consumers whose default setting is to play status games).
The same is true of Tillamook cheese vs Wisconsin cheese unless you happen to get the best brands of wisconsin cheese.but as for Boardman Oregon the only thing they are famous for is coal fired electricity production using bituminous heavy coal shipped in from way back east somewhere thanks to Al Bore..
Is the chocolate made with Belgian chocolate? That’s what matters. If it is really Belgian chocolate, then I don’t see a fraud. If made with any old chocolate and it’s using the name to impart a false message of quality, that’s different and should be stopped. There is a difference between Belgian chocolate and that commonly used in the US. Guess I’ll have to go out and get some Godiva chocolate and make my own taste test.
I am more disappointed than unwrapping the package doesn’t produce a naked lady riding a horse…do I have an actionable complaint?
produce a naked lady riding a horse
Have you seen what Americans look like recently? it should be illegal how most women dress: the voluminous rolls of fat, the cellulite seen on their legs given the shorts and skirts they wear, triple chins at age 35 while sweating profusely just to walk across the lobby, the Titanic shaped rear ends struggling to be contained by split Spandex, and the crack….oh the crack…… horrific
Estovir, just curious: do you live in a Wal-Mart?
Very good information.