Foiled: Reynolds must face "Made in USA" class

Washington v. Reynolds Consumer Products LLC, No. 1:24-cv-02327-ALC-RFT, 2026 WL 2210008 (S.D.N.Y. Jul. 30, 2026)

The court certified a class of NY consumers under the NYGBL’s false advertising provisions, based on alleged falsity of aluminum foil that’s sold with a label claiming, “FOIL MADE IN U.S.A.”

Plaintiffs argued that reasonable consumers expect that the raw materials used in the products are sourced from within the United States and that a substantial amount of the transformation of raw materials into the foil takes place within the United States. But the only commercial source of aluminum is bauxite. “Since 1981, none of the bauxite mined in the U.S. was used for aluminum, and in 2013, U.S.-mined bauxite comprised less than 0.1 percent of world production.” Thus, plaintiffs alleged, Reynolds must be sourcing from outside the US.

To make aluminum foil, bauxite is processed and refined into alumina, which is then turned into aluminum through smelting. The resulting ingots undergo further processing to make aluminum foil. Plaintiffs alleged that a substantial portion of this processing occurs outside of the United States.

Reynolds’ (bad) argument was that the “Made in the U.S.A.” label referred only to the final foil itself, not to the ingots (as if people knew about the processing stages of aluminum foil).

Only discussing parts of the certification standard: Reynolds argued that plaintiffs lacked proof of a classwide definition of “made in USA,” common evidence of consumer exposure to the label, and common evidence of a price premium. But they had enough for certification on commonality and predominance.

The Third Circuit still stands alone in its extreme ascertainability rulings. The proposed class was comprised of all persons who purchased Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil labeled with the words “FOIL MADE IN U.S.A.” in New York from March 27, 2021, to the present, which was ascertainable “because the putative class has been concretely identified by subject matter, timing, and location.”

Plaintiffs had a common theory of deception. “Defendants focus much of their analysis on whether or not Plaintiffs can prove materiality and injury, rather than show whether these questions are common because they may be determined on a classwide basis.” All class members would have been exposed to the “FOIL MADE IN U.S.A.” label on the front of all aluminum foil products. Common evidence was required to determine materiality to a reasonable consumer.

And price premium injury was common injury; they proposed a damages model consistent with their theory of liability. Plus, given that statutory damages would be less than $50 or $500 here, most class members would opt for statutory damages over actual damages. “Statutory damages can be assessed on the basis of common proof,” creating a perfectly viable common damages model even without the proposed conjoint analysis.