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.

  • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
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    8 months ago

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

    • AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      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.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        8 months ago

        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@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        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.

  • jaybone@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    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@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      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@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        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.

  • Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    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.

  • Panda (he/him)@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    8 months ago

    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 😭

  • sygnius@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    I’m usually against frivolous cases like this over nothing, but if he actually did measure that it’s impossible to hold 24 oz in a cup labeled that way, then he does have a good case. I think the case would be more on the supplier that provides the cups to Cinemark though, and less on the theater that’s taking the word of the supplier.

    • RavindraNemandi@ttrpg.network
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      8 months ago

      This is only frivolous if you think of it as being about 2 ounces of beer. Its not. Its about hundreds of thousands of people paying for something that they did not recieve. When you add it all up its quite a lot of stolen money! Also its absolutely Cinemark’s fault, even assuming they were given the wrong cups by the distributor (which is a bad assumption) its on Cinemark to make sure they are providing what they claim they are.

    • loobkoob@kbin.social
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      8 months ago

      I think the case would be more on the supplier that provides the cups to Cinemark though

      That’s a matter for Cinemark and their supplier to sort out (either through discussion or another lawsuit). This man had a contract with the vendor (Cinemark) which is why he’s suing them.