In response to a request from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, CCL today submitted a legal memorandum in Pye v. Fifth Generation, Inc. distinguishing misrepresentation claims brought against the manufacturers of Tito’s Handmade Vodka, based on the product’s claim to be “Handmade,” from similar claims against the makers of Maker’s Mark Bourbon. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle had recently dismissed such claims against Maker’s Mark and asked plaintiffs to explain why the same reasoning shouldn’t lead to dismissal of their claims. In its memorandum, CCL Chief Litigation Counsel Louis Bograd explained that there were important factual distinctions between the two cases, which have already led at least one other court to uphold misrepresentation claims against Tito’s Vodka. In particular, the Maker’s Mark bottle gives content to its claim to be “Handmade” by explaining that it was distilled in small batches under close supervision, assertions that plaintiffs in the Maker’s Mark case had not disputed. By contrast, the Tito’s Vodka label claims suggests that it is “Handmade” because it is “Crafted in an Old Fashioned Pot Still,” but plaintiffs allege that that representation is also false and misleading. Thus, a reasonable consumer may be misled by the claim on Tito’s label to be handmade, even if a consumer of Maker’s Mark cannot be.
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