Time is money and
one Florida woman is taking a packaged food company to court over just that.
Now Amanda Ramirez is suing Kraft Heinz specifically for
misleading advertising based on the amount of time it takes to make Easy Mac,
one of my personal faves, don't judge me.
Now let's get to the details and what the lawsuit entails.
Ready in 3 and a 1/2 minutes is printed on the box which is
the amount of time the product takes to cook in a microwave.
However, the suit says it takes more time to complete the other required steps
like opening the little package of the dry powder cheese for instance,.
Consumers seeing ready in 3 and 1/2 minutes will believe it represents
the total amount of time it takes to prepare the product the suit states.
Meaning from the moment it is unopened to the moment it is ready for consumption.
Now this is how the lawsuit describes the cooking process and
I have done extensive research on this myself and I believe this to be correct.
First, consumers must remove lid and cheese sauce pouch.
This is true.
Next, they must add water to fill line in cup and then stir, also true.
By the way, I have a little bit of a hack here.
You should go a little above the fill line if you want it to be cheesier.
Third, microwave uncovered on high for 3 and a 1/2 minutes.
Do not drain.
So the 3 and a 1/2 minutes is just the microwave time, okay?
>> Yeah. >> There are more steps.
Finally, they should stir in contents of cheese sauce pouch.
>> Nobody saw that coming.
>> Defendant than notes that cheese sauce will thicken upon standing.
You do have to wait for it to thicken.
>> Well that takes time.
I mean now the clock's really running, okay?
Now Amanda Ramirez accuses the company of price gouging based on this false
advertising.
>> Why is that price gouging?
>> I'll tell you.
>> Maybe it's time gouging.
I'll tell you as a result of the false and misleading representations,
the product is sold at a premium price approximately no less than 10.99 for
eight 2.39 oz cups.
>> That's a premium price?
>> Hey, listen, times are tough for your girl.
>> I hear you but I'm thinking of going and getting some right now.
[LAUGH] >> Now let me just listen,
let me finish this and I'll tell you what I think.
Excluding tax and sales higher than similar products represented in
a non-misleading way and higher than it should be sold for
absent the misleading representations and omissions.
Okay, this lawsuit is nonsense.
Let's just call it what it is.
It's nonsense, okay?
It would be hilarious if she won.
I don't think she will.
With that said, I love Easy Mac.
Can't get enough of it.
In fact will not buy it because I will eat all of it.
[LAUGH] Like I just will.
I used to make myself a little Easy Mac right before the show during the pandemic.
I started packing on some pounds so I had to cool it.
Not the healthiest thing to eat.
>> So I've talked about this before,
I went 15 years of like pretty much starvation wages.
And so I'd have four basic food groups and mac and cheese was one of them.
The others were cereal, sandwiches and hot pockets, okay?
So the normal nutritious diet of a starving talk show host, right?
So I have a personal vested interest in protecting mac and cheese.
So all right look guys, she's not gonna win.
This is absurd.
By the way, a lot of lawsuits that sound frivolous aren't necessarily frivolous
like that the hot coffee one from McDonalds, right?
>> I knew you were gonna say that, yep.
>> So and there's a whole documentary about that and you can watch it.
And so there was a legitimate point in that one.
But some of the frivolous lawsuits that sound frivolous actually
are frivolous, okay?
>> Yes. And massively frivolous.
And this appears to be one of those.
Now look, the three and a half minutes, does she have them?
Well technically, since it takes three and a half minutes to microwave it,
clearly that can't be prepared in three and a half minutes by definition, right?
>> Yeah. >> So but that doesn't mean you
win the case.
What are your damages?
>> Well look, to be fair to her, she's only seeking $5 million.
>> Okay, to be fair.
>> Yeah, so it seems fair, seems totally fair.
>> Yeah, because- >> Also you don't have to stand by
the microwave as it's zapping your Easy Mac cup.
[LAUGH] >> You know that's true,
you can do the other steps while the microwave is going.
Nobody thought of that.
[LAUGH] >> Some of the other steps but
not all of them or or like go live your life for three and a half minutes and
come back, okay?
It won't cost you a dime.
>> And I guess her case here is well since I spent the extra minute and
a half making the Easy mac and cheese, that if I had known that and
other customers had known that, we wouldn't have paid 10.99.
We would have paid 10.97 or
whatever [LAUGH] she thinks people would pay for that and then that adds up.
This is an office space.
They're not trying to take the extra cent from you and
then have all the cents pile up.
People are paying about 10.99 for that product.
>> Can we just discuss why frivolous lawsuits get filed?
>> Yeah.
>> Well first I loved the response from Kraft Heinz where they just say we
are aware of this frivolous lawsuit and
we will strongly defend against the allegations in the complaint.
Cool, the reason why these frivolous lawsuits get filed is
because oftentimes it's more expensive for the company dealing
with the frivolous lawsuit to fight said frivolous lawsuit and
to say literally to save money, they'll just settle.
They'll just be like all right whatever, here we'll settle.
Just go away, right?
>> Yep, it happens all the time.
>> It happens all the time.
So in this case, they're gonna fight it because she's asking for
freaking $5 million.
It's not a joke.
>> So, and they want to set an example and they take a very egregious case and
then publicize it.
>> Exactly. >> So that's why you're seeing this
in the news because Kraft is publicizing it and so there might be legitimate create
cases against them, employers, whatever might be who knows, right?
Employees, but they want to highlight the most ridiculous one, right?
So I understand how this game is played and lawyers have done amazing things
in the past like suing the bejesus out of tobacco and OxyContin to get justice for
people and to get money back for the victims of those industries, etc.
I wish they would do that with oil and
some of them are thinking about it in regards to climate change.
But yes, there are ambulance chasers, okay?
And so people who file frivolous lawsuits professionally because they think they're
not gonna want to fight this, let's just grab this much money and that much money.
And sometimes the numbers are pretty huge because otherwise they're
gonna drag it out in court until it cost them millions to fight it, right?
So and then those lawyers go and find people and they're dangling that carrot in
front of them or that Easy mac and cheese in front of them.
>> Yeah. >> Well it'll be just three and
a half minutes, don't worry, okay?
[LAUGH] And then the person thinks, my God, I'm gonna hit a jackpot, right?
But if you're that person or I mean if you're that lawyer,
you're already a lost cause, right?
But if you're that person, don't do it.
Be moral. >> Totally.
>> Like in this case, who cares about Kraft, right?
They are a big company, they can handle themselves.
But still it's the immoral thing to do.
It's the immoral thing to do to lie and to do this and waste the court's time,
waste everybody's time.
And by the way, delegitimize actual lawsuits that need to be adjudicated-
>> Totally.
>> By doing this trash.