Hold the lies: Judge says Burger King must face false-advertising lawsuit over the size of its Whopper

Burger King's Whopper suit conscionable won't spell away.

A national justice successful Florida this week denied Burger King's petition to disregard a lawsuit against the company for mendacious advertizing related to its celebrated burger. It is the latest lawsuit of mendacious advertizing targeting fast-food chains.

The suit represents 19 radical from 13 antithetic states who accidental they purchased Burger King's signature Whopper based connected "false and misleading advertizing concerning the size and/or the magnitude of ingredients."

In a connection to Business Insider, Burger King denied the claims.

"The plaintiffs' claims are false," a spokesperson for the institution told BI. "The flame-grilled beef patties portrayed successful our advertizing are the aforesaid patties utilized successful the millions of burgers we service to guests crossed the US."

Burger King filed a question to disregard the suit successful May 2022, 2 months aft it was archetypal filed. It argued that since each burger is hand-made astatine the restaurant, the "look" of each sandwich "necessarily volition differ."

US Southern Florida District Judge Roy Altman, however, said successful his ruling connected Monday that helium would let the plaintiff's claims of negligent misrepresentation to determination forward.

In immoderate states, the instrumentality requires that a lawsuit person a "special relationship" with a institution to writer it for misrepresentation successful ads. The instrumentality defines a peculiar narration arsenic requiring a "position of assurance oregon trust," similar with a lawyer oregon engineer. A nutrient work concern would not typically autumn into this category. But Florida instrumentality does not person this requirement, Altman wrote.

Altman said Burger King's lawyers were "resisting the common-sense speechmaking of Florida law" by suggesting that Burger King could not beryllium liable based connected the lack of a peculiar relationship.

The Russo Firm, a people enactment instrumentality steadfast representing the plaintiffs, wrote successful a blog station that Altman's ruling was "significant."

"The court's determination underscores the value of truthful advertizing and whitethorn acceptable a precedent for however fast-food chains correspond their products," the station says. "The result of this lawsuit could person broader implications for selling standards wrong the industry."

The Whopper suit is the latest illustration of false-advertising claims targeting fast-food chains. In 2023, for example, a national justice successful Brooklyn dismissed a akin mendacious advertizing suit against Wendy's and McDonald's that accused the restaurants of selling their burgers arsenic larger than reality.

US District Judge Hector Gonzalez said successful his ruling for that lawsuit that the plaintiff did not beryllium that a tenable user would person been misled by the ads.

Also successful 2023, a antheral filed a class enactment suit against Buffalo Wild Wings, accusing the institution of misrepresenting its boneless chickenhearted wings, which are really made with chickenhearted bosom meat.

Bill Marler, an lawyer specializing successful nutrient information cases, antecedently told BI that these kinds of people enactment lawsuits are often legally unproductive and locomotion the "thin enactment betwixt user advocacy and conscionable being annoying."

"It raises the contented astir what's the existent intent here? Is it that they're being a user advocator and past extracting fees and costs retired of the institution to discourage them from doing it again? Or is it conscionable a instrumentality to extract fees and costs retired of a company?" Marler said.