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Comment by chadash | Hacker News Reader

Some of the examples they found seem to not even have any avocado oil. Is there a reason trial attorneys aren't jumping at the chance for a class action suit for this?

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Proving actual damages. Unless the law stipulates punitive damages, it’s too hard to prove how you were “damaged” by it not being avocado oil and the dollar amount. This is why many lawsuits aren’t filed even when companies have harmed people.

False advertisement.

Probably not. Exaggerating but I could sell "Awesome Oil" without any actual awesome in it. Using Avocado in the name apparently is no different.

Perhaps though I think a jury would disagree

They might and maybe that would be good. However, to get to a jury the prosecutor would have to prove that a law was broken and that there's enough evidence against the defendant. If there's no such law there will never be a case.

If I sell Awesome Oil and then under the name, i put in "made from 100% extra virgin avocado oil" and put avocado oil in my ingredients list but it's really soybean oil, that's different than selling Awesome Oil but putting in actual ingredients in the ingredients list.

15 USC § 1125 gives civil liability to anyone "who in commercial advertising or promotion, misrepresents the nature, characteristics, qualities, or geographic origin of his or her or another person's goods, services, or commercial activities". I've seen state laws that cover this as well.

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