A Connecticut federal judge denied the dismissal of a lengthy case alleging that the former Nestle Waters North America deceived consumers by calling its Poland Spring bottled water “spring water.”
The question of whether Poland Spring qualified as spring water under the laws of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island remains open, according to the U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer in New Haven even though he rejected some of the claims in the proposed class action.
After a number of business deals, Poland Spring is now owned by Primo Brands, a Tampa Florida based company. Customers filed a lawsuit against Nestle Waters which was subsequently acquired by Nestle alleging that the company had tricked customers into paying more for Poland Spring water by using labels that say “Natural Spring Water” or “100% Natural Spring Water.”
The plaintiffs claimed that the real Poland Spring in Maine “ran dry” twenty years prior to Nestle purchasing the brand in 1992 and that “not one drop” of the one billion gallons sold each year in the US came from a natural spring.
Geologists and officials in the eight states believe that Poland Spring met a US Food and Drug Administration regulation that defines spring water, according to Nestle Water’s request for dismissal and each state approved its sale as “spring water.”
A former earth sciences professor employed by the plaintiffs at Syracuse University however was quoted by the judge as saying that Nestle Waters seemed to use artificial springs and collected surface water including pond water in place of “true” spring water.
Meyer agreed with Nestle Waters that the plaintiffs had no standing to demand new labeling because they now understood the claimed “truth” about Poland Spring and could purchase alternative brands of water. Primo stated in a statement that it is sure that the Maine springs from which Poland Spring is sourced comply with FDA regulations.
“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.”
The company that sold bottled water in North America was called Nestle Waters. In 2021, Nestle sold it to two private equity groups who rebranded it as BlueTriton. In November that business combined with the former Primo Water to create Primo Brands.
