By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Frank Siragusa wasn’t pleased that the $5.49 Mexican pizza he paid for at Taco Bell in New York Metropolis final September appeared to have solely half as a lot beef and bean filling as the image within the chain’s advert. So he sued.
In a proposed class motion filed Monday in Brooklyn federal courtroom, Siragusa accused Taco Bell of deceiving shoppers by falsely promoting Mexican Pizza, Veggie Mexican Pizza, Crunchrup Supreme, Grand Crunchrub, and Vegan Crunchrub as containing “twice” their precise content material. the least.
Siragusa, of Ridgewood, New York, included images displaying meals stuffed with beef, cheese, and shiny red-green greens, together with “precise” images of smaller, much less vibrant meals that different clients had posted on-line.
The criticism stated Taco Bell’s promoting is “unfair and financially dangerous to shoppers” and “significantly issues now that inflation, meals and meat costs are so excessive and that many shoppers, particularly low-income shoppers, are struggling financially.”
The lawsuit seeks no less than $5 million for Taco Bell clients who bought the 5 gadgets in New York state up to now three years. It doesn’t declare that the gadgets include much less content material than what Taco Bell describes on its web site.
Taco Bell, a unit of Yum Manufacturers, didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Final 12 months, considered one of Siragusa’s legal professionals filed a nonetheless pending lawsuit in Brooklyn accusing McDonald’s and Wendy’s over the precise versus marketed dimension of the burger.
One other legal professional, Anthony Russo, filed the same case final 12 months in Miami towards Burger King over lint. That swimsuit went to mediation, deadlocking.
“Taco Bell doesn’t adequately disclose the burden of the meat or the filling,” Russo stated in an e-mail. “The plaintiff didn’t make any purchases of the product based mostly on any weight disclosure however solely based mostly on the picture of the product, as we imagine most shoppers do.”
The case is Siragusa v Taco Bell Corp, US District Courtroom, Japanese District of New York, No. 23-05748.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Modifying by Invoice Berkrot)