McDonald’s Corp. has won dismissal of three out of five claims in a lawsuit over allergens contained in french fries and hash browns.
U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo in Chicago said the plaintiffs’ complaint failed to give enough detail about an alleged scheme by the Oak Brook-based company to conceal the existence of gluten and dairy in its food products.
The ruling was a setback for plaintiffs, who claim they or their children were sickened by McDonald’s products because the company gave false dietary information in ads and online. The group has 28 days to amend its complaint, Bucklo said in an order posted Wednesday.
The claims “allege that the potato products were advertised and marketed as milk-, wheat- and gluten-free, but no specific instances or locations of the advertisements are identified,” Bucklo said. She allowed two claims on breach of warranty and unjust enrichment to proceed.
Lawyers for McDonald’s asked the court to throw out the lawsuit in November, referring to the plaintiffs as a few “hypersensitive consumers with allergies.”
