Consumer vs Blue Moon class action lawsuit

Damages? I hope you are kidding. That is a big stretch.

I don't drink anything by Blue Moon but this lawsuit reeks of sour grapes and nothing more. I can guarantee you that even if they did put "Blue Moon by Coors" or something like that on the label plenty of people would still buy and drink it.

Not everyone cares about the brewery behind the beer, some actually like to drink a certain beer or brand because they like the taste and enjoy it.

Life is short drink what you like.

 

If we as beer drinkers can't tell the difference between craft and any other beer , then we need to get screwed. They must hope to gain a life time supply of Bluemoon. To much nit picking and not enough drinking.

 

Exactly, who gives a flip where this goes. I have disliked the Coors organization forever and this bothers me not!

 

We may actually get a legal definition of "craft beer".

 

Let's be clear that brewed in smaller batches may be your definition of craft, but that's not a universal understanding. Just skim through this recent thread to get a feel for how many different opinions are floating around out there of what "craft" beer is. No one agrees. Therefore, I think it's very naive to think a judge is going to unilaterally make ruling on a something as arbitrary as craft beer. There's no legislation or gov't policy to support such a definition. Even if some maverick judge tried to create a definition it would be challenged in an appeal.

Furthermore, as @gopens44 said, what are the "damages"? Someone drank a beer that was a couple bucks more expensive than a typical adjunct lager; or equally priced to hundreds of beers made by other competing beer companies worldwide? Oh no! Call the cops!

This case is nothing more than some lawyers frivilously fishing for a settlement. Expecting anything more to come of this is just silly.

 

Any craft beer drinker who doesn't know that a beer brewed in Golden Co. is brewed by Coors deserves to be duped!

 

Anything to shed some light on these types of beers (Blue Moon, Red Hook, Shock Top) is good, IMHO.

 

At MANY points of sale - bars, restaurants, sporting events, etc - Blue Moon is specifically marketed as a "craft" option. Regardless of whether that's said or not, the price alone screams to the average BMC buyer that it's a craft beer.

That said, I hope this case gets thrown out of court.

 

Making beer IS a craft.
The marketing term "craft beer" (and a marketing term is all it is) really needs to finally just go away altogether.

 

The lawsuit could not have happened to a nicer group of folks. I talked a bar out of serving Blue Moon for pretty much the same reasons. They now serve Oberon instead.

 

Which one of us cares enough about Miller/Coors/Blue Moon to even bother????

 

This seems like it will burn to the ground faster than the XFL.

There has to be a conspiracy here. Maybe MillerCoors is covertly biting their thumb at the craft industry, and hired someone to sue themselves, only to ruin the hopes and dreams of aspiring wannabe activists.

 

You are right, every person seems to have their own definition of "craft." However, according to the article referenced in the early section of the thread (http://www.bevlaw.com/bevlog/malt-beverage/a-flood-of-lawsuits-and-too-much-blue-moon-beer):

"The complaint alleges that MillerCoors:

1. makes more than 2.4 billion gallons of beer a year — about 12 times what the prevailing Brewers Association definition, for a craft brewer, allows"

Again, I'm not stating anyone is right or wrong here, I'm stating that, maybe, consumers and small batch brewers MIGHT benefit from a standard definition of "craft beer." Also, I'm not stating that "damages" occurred, but "damages" are the claims of a plaintiff in a civil suit. Funny that people immediately took that to mean I had an opinion on who should win the case...

 

I'm not stating that "damages" occurred, but "damages" are the claims of a plaintiff in a civil suit. Funny that people immediately took that to mean I had an opinion on who should win the case...

 

What do you Beer Advocates think about how a definition of "craft beers" might positively or negatively affect consumers and the small-batch brewer?

 

Craft beer? Sounds kinda cheese to me...

 

People who like blue moon don't care if it's "craft" beer. People whol like good craft beer don't buy blue moon (for the most part). So saying the lawsuit is on behalf of consumers is misleading advertisement (see what I did there?). I hate the commercials blue moon puts out that equate to putting lipstick on a pig, but I'm not going to make a federal case out of it.

 

The bevlaw website has some great info and a nice summary. Good link. What most people seem to focus on is their opinion whether it's craft or not. But that's not the only thrust of the lawsuit. There are facially reasonable points on false affiliation with the actual Blue Moon Brewing Company (taking allegations in Complaint as true) and the advertising representations/omissions. The law in California may well assume that consumers should know certain information, but it also makes clear that some advertising can be considered misleading/untruthful and therefore unlawful. That's the legislature's call, like it or not. And while attorneys may take some blame for filing of such a "frivolous" lawsuit, it takes a consumer interested to do so. This also isn't a terribly drafted Complaint, all things considered.

Not a CA attorney (other coast), but this would seem to make it to discovery. Count one sub-claims (a) and (b) seem most strong to me, since that's a pretty objective representation if true. I'm sure Coors wouldn't screw up branding that badly, and there's probably some case law on using a trade name versus a formal corporate name. Are there obstacles to success? Many. But as bevlaw points out, Blue Moon has been popped before.

 

Also keep in mind that to the extent the standard is what the reasonable consumer would know or be expected to know about the truth of claims on the label/advertising, that disqualifies pretty much everyone here--you all know too much (since I'm a mere aspirant, maybe I'd qualify ) and therefore know better.