This Texas Pete Hot Sauce Lawsuit is Heating Up

This lawsuit is spicing things up in the court room!

Recently a judge in California has decided that the Texas Pete Hot Sauce lawsuit will not be dismissed. Oh, you have not heard of the Texas Pete Hot Sauce lawsuit? Well, allow me to explain!

It all started in September when a Los Angeles man named Philip White filed a lawsuit against T.W. Garner Food Co., who are based in North Carolina, for false advertising. Apparently, we've all been lied to! Texas Pete hot sauce is not made in Texas, but rather in North Carolina!

According to court documents, when White purchased the hot sauce, he:

…relied upon the language and images displayed on the front label of the Product, and at the time of purchase understood the Product to be a Texas product.

Apparently the lassoing cowboy was enough to make him think the product was made in the Lone Star state. White is seeking that the company change the name of the hot sauce and to compensate other customers who may have mistakenly purchased the hot sauce thinking it was made in Texas.

Well, it didn't take long for T.W. Garner Food Co. to fire back with a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Claiming that the label clearly states that the product is made in North Carolina and that there's a Texas in North Carolina, so it could just be referring to that.

Unfortunately for them, the judge wasn't buying any of that and this past week the judge denied the request. In a 20-page order the judge stated that:

a reasonable customer could believe—erroneously—that the products originated in Texas.

How will T.W. Garner Food Co. respond? We'll have to wait and see what comes next, but for now it's clear that this lawsuit is turning up the heat in the courtroom!