READ THIS NEXT: Walmart Is Getting Rid of This in Stores, as of Tomorrow. Walmart isn’t new to being sued. In Nov. 2021, the retailer was sued by the popular footwear brand Vans, which claimed that Walmart had been copying and selling knockoff versions of its own shoes. Then in April of this year, the company got hit with a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over various products it sells, including bedding, towels, and bras. According to the agency, Walmart allegedly falsely implied that these items were “eco-friendly” and made with bamboo, when they are actually made with rayon, which is a synthetic rubber artificially made from bamboo.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb It’s not just big names targeting Walmart, however. As it turns out, even individual consumers are suing the retailer for alleged misdeeds. Walmart is now facing another lawsuit over one of its products. On July 1, plaintiff Amber Knautz filed a class action suit against Walmart in an Illinois federal court. According to court documents, Knautz is targeting the retailer for its store-brand Great Value Chocolate Caramel Coffee Creamer—claiming the product and Walmart’s marketing of it violate both federal and state consumer laws. In a statement to Best Life, Walmart spokesperson Abby Williams-Bailey said, “We look to our suppliers to provide products which comply with all applicable laws, including labeling. We will respond as appropriate in Court.” RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. Walmart “manufacturers, markets, labels, and sells” this coffee product as a “coffee creamer” under its Great Value brand, according to Knautz. But the plaintiff claims that the product is actually a coffee whitener, not a creamer. As cited in the lawsuit, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines cream as “the liquid milk product high in fat separated from milk, [with] not less than 18 percent milkfat,” and coffee cream containing between 18 percent and 30 percent of milkfat. On the other hand, coffee whiteners “usually contain more corn syrup solids, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and fake flavoring, like Irish creme or French vanilla, than actual milk or cream,” according to the Cleveland Clinic. Per the Great Value Chocolate Caramel Coffee Creamer’s ingredients list, the product “substitutes water and sunflower oil” in place of cream, Knautz’s said in the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that Walmart is misleading consumers into buying the chocolate caramel coffee whitener as a milk-based product by referring to it as a coffee creamer and by marketing it with a yellow “ultra-pasteurized” label. According to Knautz, pasteurization is a process that shoppers typically associate with milk-based beverages because they are required by law to undergo this process, as well as prominently disclose this on their labels. “By representing the Product with the statements, ‘Coffee Creamer’ and ‘Ultra Pasteurized,’ consumers are misled because it lacks cream and dairy ingredients beyond a de minimis amount of sodium caseinate, a milk derivative, shown through the ingredient list,” the lawsuit states, adding that Knautz says she would have not purchased the product or would have paid less for it if Walmart had not mislead her.
