North Texas man sues Cinemark claiming 24-ounce beer cups can't hold 24 ounces

A North Texas man has filed a class action lawsuit against Cinemark, claiming the movie theater chain is lying to customers about the size of its drinks.

Shane Waldrop claims that Cinemark’s 24 ounce cups can only hold 22 ounces of liquid, according to the lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

On Feb. 14, Waldrop went to the Cinemark in Grapevine and purchased the 20 ounce and 24 ounce draft beer.

He noticed the 24 ounce cup did not appear to be big enough to hold 4 more ounces of liquid.

Waldrop took the empty container home and measured how much it could hold, discovering it only held 22 ounces.

Waldrop and his legal team says the movie theater chain is taking part in “deceptive” and “otherwise improper” business practices that violate state and federal laws about misbranding.

“This is especially misleading because the 24 oz drink should provide a deal for consumers over the 20 oz drink’s price: $0.37 per ounce vs. $0.39 per ounce. But due to the actual volume of 22 oz available in the ‘24 oz’ drink, the price is $0.40 per ounce making the larger drink more expensive per ounce, which is not a deal at all,” reads the lawsuit.

Itdidnttrickledown,

That old thing where they stopped dispensing 24 oz of beer and some idiot decided not to buy 24 oz cups anymore to save more money.

Mango,

Yes! Do ISPs next!

PiratePanPan,
@PiratePanPan@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Waldrop took the empty container home and measured how much it could hold, discovering it only held 22 ounces.

Bro really pulled out the scientific instruments and everything 😭

zalgotext,

Yes, scientific instruments like measuring cups

PiratePanPan,
@PiratePanPan@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

i’mjusttryingtobefunny TwT

zalgotext,

At least you tried 😊

gitamar,

I’m still fascinated that “calibrated” glasses are not more common. In Germany, you won’t get any beer without any markings where the volume is indicated.

de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Füllstrich#/media/Datei%3…

Bakkoda,

The US is a wild west of suggestions masquerading as regulations. If your ledger doesn’t have room for the decimals places needed to record the fine, it’s not a fine.

Crashumbc,

Because capitalism…

n3m37h,

The free markets will figure it out!

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Calibrated glasses are very on-brand for Germany.

gitamar,

They are and are actually enforced by the EU: eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=…

sadcoconut,

They’re such a good idea we’ve even kept them after Brexit.

uis,

EU, I belive in you!

Lev_Astov,
@Lev_Astov@lemmy.world avatar

Some US states have some sort of department of weights and measures. I’ve contacted mine before about such issues and they take them very seriously, sending out an inspection team to test the claim. What they can do to enforce things depends on the state, though.

jaybone,

No one will care. They will pay whatever fine, and pay whatever members of this class, and then they will keep doing the same shit.

intensely_human,

If they keep doing the same shit I’ll sue them again, citing their previous lawsuit and any injunctive relief ordered in the previous trial when presenting my case.

irotsoma,
@irotsoma@lemmy.world avatar

They’ll just call it something different and hide the size in small print. Or they’ll increase the price so that the large is still $.40 per oz since people don’t usually do the math these days and just assume larger things are a better deal. A lot of times they aren’t anymore because companies don’t care as much about selling a lot as they do about profit on the sale due to there not being much competition with all the consolidation.

vodkasolution,

Texas, land of justice

weariedfae,

Legit question: does the FDA do a weights and measures things for restaurants?

Crashumbc,

Nope (afaik)

AlecSadler,

Having owned, partly owned, or at least been very friendly with restaurant and bar owners…

…no, no they do not. Maybe they do if you end up on some radar or something, or get reported? But in general day to day and inspections, no.

echodot,

In the UK, and I suspect in other countries as well, you have to use the right cups and glasses for the right drinks. So for beer you will have to use the beer glass that the brewery provide. I don’t think you can just go out and get any old cup from a shop and use that. You have to use the calibrated ones.

weariedfae,

Apologies, I should have been more specific. I meant does some sort of regulation or team or anything involving weights and measures exist at all for food service? Or is the only thing the theaters did “wrong” in this case false advertising?

I understand enforcement for an FDA regulation/whatever may be lacking. I’ve worked in a restaurant and other food service related places before but I was young and pretty low level so I wasn’t super tuned into the business side let alone laws/regulations outside of basic food handling.

roguetrick,

Usually use tort law and not administrative or codified law for this sort of thing.

weariedfae,

TIL, thank you

Khanzarate,

There’s a separate weights and measures office here www.nist.gov/pml/owm

I’m not sure exactly what that’d change about this situation, but they seem to publish standards based on industry majorities, so there’s a proper baseline.

weariedfae,

Thank you, that’s exactly what I was wondering about.

NotMyOldRedditName,

In Canada a pint is a legal measurement of 20oz / 568ml

If you advertise beer on the menu as a pint, it must be at least 19.5oz excluding head(allowable margin of error)

What happens though is countless places advertise a pint, and then give you something like 16-18oz which is against the law.

It’s gets harder tell what you’re getting as well when they serve in non standard pint glasses, or glasses without a pint mark.

BigBananaDealer,
@BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee avatar

bring your own pint glass. and a lawyer to every bar you go to. bam ez money

NotMyOldRedditName,

Pay for your law degree this way then be the lawyer to save on costs! Travel the country for free indefinitely!

corsicanguppy,

Ah, so that’s what the 4th Littlest Hobo remake is going to be like.

Treczoks,

This is something that happens every year at the Oktoberfest in Munich. Legally, the “Maß” should be 1l, but the standards office regularly measure the contents way below that mark, even if one allows for a certain margin of error.

intensely_human,

So the legal requirement in Canada is not an actual pint?

RaccoonBall,

It’s a pint. Just not a US pint.

Railcar8095,

Is this some imperial joke I’m too metric to understand?

NotMyOldRedditName,

You’re in a band?

PM_Your_Nudes_Please,

Imperial pints are standardized as 20fl.oz. But the US uses cups to measure pints instead of fluid ounces. In the US each pint is 2 cups, and each cup is 8fl.oz. So in the US, a pint is actually 4fl.oz smaller, because it’s measured in cups instead of fl.oz.

gallopingsnail,
@gallopingsnail@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

An imperial pint is 20 fl oz, a US pint is 16 fl oz.

FozzyOsbourne,

If they can’t even do the stupid units right then it’s no wonder they don’t like the sensible ones!

JCreazy,

What if 22oz of beer (volume) WEIGHED 24oz (mass)?

Emperor,
@Emperor@feddit.uk avatar

As a Brit, I find a lot of American units confusing but that makes my head hurt more than usual.

bamboo,

Wouldn’t this mean that beer would need to be 8% more dense than water for this to work out? Quickly searching online, it seems like beer is more like 1% more dense than water, depending on the type of beer, so not sure this is possible.

Bronzie,

Wait, I thought ounces were weight but liquid ounces were volume, making this irrelevant?

funnystuff97,

1 fl oz (volume) of water weighs about 1 oz (weight). It varies depending on a bunch of stuff, ya know, cause imperial sucks, but I believe the standard rate is 1 fl oz weighs about 1.043 oz. So assuming beer has similar density as water, 22 fl oz would weigh somewhere around 23 oz.

(Some Google searches show that some definitions of fl oz has it as 1 fl oz = 30 ml exactly, but I’m starting to confuse myself and you know how infuriating imperial is.)

Phrodo_00,

The US customary units are officially defined on top of metric, and 1 fl oz is 29.5735295625 mL, but an oz is 28.349523125 g. I imagine this decision was just to fuck with people (since 1ml of water weighs 1g at sea level, at 4°)

GlendatheGayWitch,

According to the website below, searching for “beer”, 22 oz weighs 23.281 oz. So it’s close!

www.aqua-calc.com/…/food-volume-to-weight

morphballganon,

I wonder if they used to have bigger cups, changed suppliers, and didn’t bother to update the menus

Jayb151,

That’s actually my thought, though even if it was a mistake, it had to go through multiple people before the 22oz cup made it into this guys hand. I hope he wins

intensely_human,

I really don’t think the term “piss beer” is that literal

NegativeLookBehind,
@NegativeLookBehind@lemmy.world avatar

This man is the champion of modern society and I support his righteous crusade

MajorHavoc,

If this guy doesn’t get a “we salute you” ad by the beer companies, there’s no justice left in the world.

RustyEarthfire,

🎵 Mister every ounce of beer is precious man 🎵

DrSleepless,

If the beer gets wasted, God gets quite irate

twinnie,

Godspeed.

MrJameGumb,
@MrJameGumb@lemmy.world avatar

He really needed those last 2 ounces of beer

RestrictedAccount,

Do you really need the last 8% of the pay that you earned?

WindyRebel,

If the amount I’m being priced for is that amount and you short me? Fuck yeah. We should never be ok with not getting what we paid for. There’s too much shrinkflation and deception.

norbert,
norbert avatar

Yeah I'm with you, 2oz is nice big drink, if they're saying it's 24oz it needs to be at least 24oz.

ChihuahuaOfDoom,

I totally approve of these types of lawsuits.

trolololol,

I do too, but I wonder what kind of mental problem that guy has to invest money in lawyer and court fees, plus tons of personal time, to get this going.

FiskFisk33,

i guess a dash of autism.

If anything this is a good example of how society would be worse off if everyone were neurotypical

that or our hero is just bored and petty as fuck!

yeather,

L take, not everyone is autistic.

FiskFisk33,

that or our hero is just bored and petty as fuck!

intensely_human,

I don’t see this as petty at all. Don’t fuck my weights and measures, and we ain’t got a problem.

FiskFisk33,

Well, petty from a single person, single occurrence prespective. On the large scale this is a pretty huge scam.

Anticorp,

The lawyer probably took the case on a contingent basis (doesn’t get paid unless he wins), and the dude will probably get a fat check. That’s not a mental problem, that’s cashing in big on a corporate lie he discovered.

reverendsteveii,

a fat check.

idk how much he’ll actually get considering his damages are a couple ounces of beer.

Exusia,

As a Class Action lawsuit, it is a couple ounces of beer across every person who has ordered a 24oz. Could be pretty lucrative

reverendsteveii,

each member of the class is gonna get the cash value of 2 oz beer * number of short beers they bought * .6 (assuming 40% attorneys fees). Nobody’s retiring off this money.

PM_Your_Nudes_Please,

Pretty lucrative for the lawyers. Each person who has ordered a beer in the past few years will get a check in the mail for 3¢, and a coupon for a free beer next time they go.

TrickDacy,

The mental illness known as “tired of everyone getting fucked with no recourse”

intensely_human,

He appears to have some kind of backbone

corsicanguppy,

That’s the primary feature of texans. It’s so big it actually fills most of the cranium.

intensely_human,

I’d rather be courageous than smart

JasonDJ,

Yes, the world needs more knuckle-dragging grunts to take advantage of.

Mango,

I should ask my psychologist if she can help me get rid of that feeling without focusing on just the symptoms.

originalfrozenbanana,

The mental problem of wanting to earn a lot of money in a lawsuit. Mans gonna get three, maybe even four bucks outta this

KingJalopy,

I should cover the missing 2 oz he didn’t get in his beer

originalfrozenbanana,

I mean I joke but it’s not about the money he will earn, it’s about the money Cinemark will lose.

intensely_human,

Hopefully it’s about sending a message that casually dropping 10% of delivered goods as a matter of policy isn’t going to fly.

I hope the judge makes it hurt for Cinemark, assuming this was actual policy and not just a case of them using different cups that day from being out of the normal ones.

lurch,

spiderman careful he’s a hero meme

yeather, (edited )

None, these types of cases barely ever go to trial, they will end with a settlement of which the lawyers will take a portion as compensation.

nilloc,

Yup lawyers who take these kinds of cases that are easy wins, do it on contingency. If they don’t think you have a good case they tell you, and then charge you hourly.

guy_threepwood,

Works on contingency? No, money down!

trolololol,

I’m missing understanding some things here, but how much is the case about to handout in money? And shouldn’t the guy here split it between himself and lawyers?

yeather,

Depends on what the guy and the cinema agree upon to make this go away. Usually the lawyers will take 30-40% of a settlement.

trolololol,

deleted_by_moderator

    •
    yeather,

    Everything the cinema did can be considered fraud and false advertising. Potentially millions if they play it right.

    intensely_human,

    Or it might come down to that one particular theater was using different cups that one day because they were out of the regular cups

    AtariDump,

    Then it’s false advertising having a 24oz cup size on the sign and serving 22oz of beer.

    You wouldn’t like it if you pumped 10 gallons of gas, were charged for 10 gallons of gas, but only received 9.75 gallons.

    Hildegarde,

    Judges decide the law, juries decide the facts. Juries are only needed if there is a material dispute of the facts. I doubt this case would have a jury even if it didn’t end in a settlement.

    yeather,

    My apologies, go to trial is the term.

    Rivalarrival,

    And by “a portion”, they mean “the entire thing”: the average member of the class will be lucky to get a check worth the time it takes to deposit it.

    A_Random_Idiot, (edited )

    I was a member of a class action suit once.

    I think I got about 50 dollars over the course of two payouts. Which was significantly more than my “damages”, so I was happy.

    What made me less happy was they printed the checks on these non-standard size or material cards, so my bankat the time gave me a hell of a time trying to deposit the 100% non-standard sized or material check.

    bjorney,

    The plaintiff(s) in a class action usually gets a pretty decent chunk - substantially more than the class members because they are the one’s doing all the work on the class’s behalf

    The payout for class members depends on the number of people who sign up, which generally depends on the burden of proof. If you need to provide a receipt the payout is generally much higher because it gets split up fewer ways. I’ve gotten class action payouts as high as $300 when all I had to do was dig up through my bank records to find out the date of a transaction, and as low as $2, when all I had to do was click a link and enter my email address

    Kolanaki,
    @Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

    One of the many symptoms of autism is having a very strong sense of justice and demanding fairness in all things, sometimes to an obsessive degree. He’s probably just one of us.

    yeather,

    L take, not everyone is autistic.

    Rivalarrival,

    Brb, pouring out two ounces for my poor, disadvantaged, neurotypical homies.

    intensely_human,

    Yeah that’s why this kind of thing doesn’t happen all the time.

    psud,

    I don’t think the “us” in that furrie’s statement is inclusive of everyone

    Kolanaki,
    @Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

    Not everyone would spend the money and time to sue a business over 2 ounces of liquid, either.

    oo1,

    If they get punitive damages it might be a lot more than that.
    Lawyer might do it for 0 upront and % of settlement if they think there's a decent prospect of that.

    yeather,

    Working on contigent. The guy gets a large payout and the lawyers take a percentage.

    FiskFisk33,

    large? That’s not how class action works at all.

    yeather,

    Large overall, not saying anything about the amount per person.

    FiskFisk33,

    Yes you did:

    The guy gets a large payout

    paraphrand,

    Huh.

    SpaceNoodle,

    Alcoholism

    KingJalopy,

    Yes, having a drink while out and about having a good time is definitely a sign of alcoholism…

    SpaceNoodle,

    Having enough that you’re min-maxing the number of cents per unit of ethanol might be

    KingJalopy,

    At a movie theatre that could be serious money lol

    A_Random_Idiot,

    Something tells me you’d be far less mocking about it if it was you getting sold something, and not getting the full amount.

    SpaceNoodle,

    Oh, I wasn’t mocking.

    frostysauce,

    Unfortunately I’m seeing far too often younger people think that having a single beer makes you an alcoholic.

    TrickDacy,

    What a puritanical douche

    SpaceNoodle,

    No, it just takes one to know one.

    southsamurai,
    @southsamurai@sh.itjust.works avatar

    I dunno, standards? Principles?

    Sometimes it’s about that, not personal gain

    Anticorp,

    Isn’t it fucked up that expecting what you paid for has left people asking what mental problems he has? That’s how far we’ve fallen.

    southsamurai,
    @southsamurai@sh.itjust.works avatar

    Yup. Pretty messed up

    intensely_human,

    Yeah but everyone knows being anything other than a conniving mole is a sign “mental illness”. The only legitimate way to live is like a scurrying beetle, telling whatever lies one can to gain favor with the elite.

    southsamurai,
    @southsamurai@sh.itjust.works avatar

    We’ve gotten so used to oligarchy that we don’t even see it when it has infected us. That’s scary and sad at the same time.

    umbrella, (edited )
    @umbrella@lemmy.ml avatar

    i wonder what kind of mental illness some already rich bigwig has to have to defraud even our fucking soda

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