Pabst Win in Olympia Beer False-Ad Suit Gets 9th Cir. Approval

A federal appeals court affirmed judgment Thursday for Pabst Brewing Co. in a consumer’s proposed class action alleging the beer maker deceptively advertised Olympia beer as using water from that Washington suburb.

The plaintiff didn’t show that a significant portion of buyers would be misled by Pabst’s marketing, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said in an unpublished memorandum.

• Plaintiff Brendan Peacock brought a claim for violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law that alleged Pabst continued marketing the beer as using water from the Olympia region of Washington after closing the production there in 2003
• But he ...