The weight-loss instructor who filed a lawsuit several weeks ago against the Coca-Cola Co. claiming that its popular My Coke Rewards program might prompt kids to drink so much soda that they could die or at the very least become obese, has dropped the suit.
Julia Havey filed a motion last week to dismiss the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, Havey’s hometown. Havey, who also authors diet books, had sought $9.77 million from the company in her Notice of Intent and the lawsuit demanded monetary funding for long-term medical monitoring, Coca-Cola said in an Aug. 2 letter to Havey’s attorney Albert Watkins. She also asked Coca-Cola to change or drop the program. (PROMO Xtra, July 19, 2006)
Coca-Cola called the lawsuit frivolous, baseless and groundless and has not made any changes to the loyalty program.
“None of the allegations are truthful, and importantly My Coke Rewards has not been modified in any way to respond to her lawsuit,” Coke spokesperson Scott Williamson said yesterday.
Prior to Havey’s filing of the “dismissal memorandum”, Coca-Cola had filed a motion to have the suit dismissed, which required Havey to substantiate her claims,” Williamson said.
“When compelled to substantiate her misinformed claims she chose instead to drop her suit,” he said.
Williamson said that despite Havey’s claim that an individual consumers would have to drink hundreds of cans of Coke to earn some prizes, consumers can get points for buying low- and no-calorie beverages like Diet Coke, as well as Coke Zero, and that members can buy drinks for parties and their families, not just for themselves.
The timing of the filing of the lawsuit was suspicious, since it coincided with the release and publicity of Havey’s latest diet book, Williamson said.
In the Aug. 2 letter, Coca-Cola called the lawsuit a “publicity stunt”. The letter said that the lawsuit was first “threatened” on the even of the publication of the new book. Harvey referred to her “challenge” against Coke and its rewards program in a July 27 press release she issued announcing the new book. Coca-Cola is considering pursuing legal action against Harvey and her attorney for costs and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, incurred by the company in opposing the suit.
“We’re assessing the situation and have not made a final determination yet as to anything we might do,” Williamson said.
Coca-Cola has also demanded that Havey remove all information related to My Coke Rewards and the company’s products from her Web site DrinkChooseLive.com [http://www.crinkchooselive.com] and any others she operates.
Since the loyal program launched in February, more than 2.2 million members have registered to collect codes from bottle caps and packaging across the entire Coke portfolio to bank online and later redeem for rewards that range from magazine subscriptions to cruises for two. More than 472,000 rewards have been redeemed.
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