Last month the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York dismissed a class-action lawsuit filed by Spencer Sheehan which alleged that Starbucks coffee labeled as “100% Arabica” mislead consumers into thinking that the coffee contained no additives when in fact it contained “significantly greater than expected levels of potassium” as indicated by “[r]ecent reports based on laboratory analysis.”

The Court made short work of the allegations. First, the complaint contained only vague allegations of elevated potassium levels and did not include or cite to any laboratory analysis on which the Court could determine the potassium levels in the product. Second, even if the Court could establish that the product contained elevated potassium levels, the Court held that a reasonable consumer would interpret 100% Arabica to mean that the product contained coffee beans exclusively from the arabica plant, and not that it contained no additives.  

The Court is considering imposing sanctions against Plaintiff’s attorney Spencer Sheehan for filing a frivolous lawsuit and has ordered the attorney to show cause as to why sanctions are not appropriate. Sanctions are appropriate only where it is clear that there is no chance of success under existing law and there is no reasonable argument to modify existing law. In issuing this extraordinary order, the Court considered that Spencer Sheehan has filed 18 actions in the same district since 2021, all of which have been dismissed, and that other New York district courts have threatened him with sanctions for frivolous claims.

Spencer Sheehan has filed a response arguing that sanctions are inappropriate and that he had a good faith basis to file the claim, but the Court has not yet ruled on the issue.