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Tea Leaves Tell Tales: Jury Awards $2.36 Million for Bigelow’s “Manufactured in the USA 100%” Label
On April 8, 2025, a California jury found that R.C. Bigelow, Inc., the well-known manufacturer of Bigelow teas, intentionally or recklessly misled consumers by claiming that some of its teabags were “Manufactured in the USA.” Generally speaking, “Made in the USA” labels, or those containing similar language, require the underlying product be “all or virtually all” made in the United States. The Bigelow tea products at issue in the California case of Banks v. R.C. Bigelow, Inc. (No. 2:20-cv-06208), however, failed to measure up. The price for this mislabeling was steep, with the jury awarding the class action plaintiffs $2.36 million.
Not Their Cup of Tea: The Beginning of a Saga
Nearly five years before the verdict was read, on July 13, 2020, a group of California plaintiffs filed a putative class action against Bigelow for the way it labeled several of its tea products. Banks v. R.C. Bigelow, Inc., 536 F. Supp. 3d 640, 644 (C.D. Cal. 2021) (hereinafter “Bigelow I”). This list included some of Bigelow’s self-described “Most Popular Teas” such as Bigelow “Constant Comment” Black Tea, Bigelow Earl Grey Black Tea, and Bigelow English Teatime Black Tea, among several others. See, id., Most Popular Teas, Bigelow.
The plaintiffs’ complaints stemmed from Bigelow’s use of the phrase “Manufactured in the USA 100% American Family Owned” on the side of several of its bagged tea boxes, as shown below:
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