By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) -A federal judge in Connecticut refused to dismiss a long-running lawsuit accusing the former Nestle (NS:NEST) Waters (NYSE:WAT) North America of defrauding consumers by labeling its Poland Spring bottled water as "spring water."
While rejecting some claims in the proposed class action, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer in New Haven called it an open question whether Poland Spring qualified as spring water under the laws of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Poland Spring is now owned by Tampa, Florida-based Primo Brands, following multiple corporate transactions.
Consumers sued Nestle Waters, then owned by Nestle, in 2017, saying it deceived them into overpaying for Poland Spring with labels declaring it to be "Natural Spring Water" or "100% Natural Spring Water."
The plaintiffs said "not one drop" of the 1 billion gallons sold annually in the United States came from a natural spring, and that the actual Poland Spring in Maine "ran dry" two decades before Nestle bought the brand in 1992.
In seeking a dismissal, Nestle Waters said geologists and officials in the eight states agreed that Poland Spring complied with a U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule defining spring water, and each state authorized its sale as "spring water."
But the judge cited a former Syracuse University earth sciences professor hired by the plaintiffs, who said Nestle Waters appeared to use man-made springs and extracted pond water and other surface water instead of "true" spring water.
Meyer agreed with Nestle Waters that the plaintiffs lacked standing to demand new labels, because they now knew the alleged "truth" about Poland Spring and could buy other brands of water.
In a statement, Primo said it was confident the Maine springs that source Poland Spring comply with the FDA rule.
"Poland Spring brand bottled water is 100% spring water," the company said. "We remain confident in our position and look forward to successfully defending against the remaining claims."
Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Nestle Waters had been Nestle's North American bottled water business. Nestle sold it in 2021 to two private equity firms, which renamed it BlueTriton. That company merged in November with the former Primo Water (NYSE:PRMB) to form Primo Brands.
The case is Patane v. Nestle Waters North America Inc, U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut, No. 17-01381.