Diageo Fights Back Against Casamigos and Don Julio Class Action Lawsuits

(Photo: Smith Collection/Gado/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

On Tuesday, British spirits conglomerate Diageo filed a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit accusing Don Julio and Casamigos tequila of containing less than 100% agave. Lawyers representing the company argue that the plaintiffs have attempted to “alchemize rumor into fraud,” adding with a flair for the dramatic: “Their [testing] theory is the equivalent of someone claiming the earth is flat because he saw a ‘test’ result somewhere that says his neighbor’s backyard is level.”

The first of three class action suits was filed against Don Julio and Casamigos on May 5 in the Eastern District Court of New York. Plaintiffs accused the “100% agave” tequila brands of misleading advertising, alleging that the spirits contained significant amounts of cane-derived alcohol. A RICO case filed in California elaborated on the alleged specifics, claiming that Casamigos Blanco and Don Julio Añejo each contained around 33% ethanol derived from agave, while Casamigos Reposado and Don Julio Blanco came in at 42%.

If the allegations are proven true in court, Diageo would be required to pay out millions to consumers who purchased its tequila products.

The British conglomerate has now filed a motion to dismiss the suits in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The filing takes particular issue with the plaintiffs’ testing method, a technique known as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. NMR is purportedly capable of isolating a carbon “fingerprint” in alcohol, one that identifies the plant source of the sugars used during fermentation.

Plaintiffs allege that NMR testing proved Casamigos and Don Julio to be phonies — Diageo, however, argues that the technique is dubious, at best.

“[Plaintiffs’] theory that Diageo’s tequilas contain non-agave alcohol sources rests entirely on incomplete and vaguely described results from a single European company’s “test” that has no scientifically proven or even demonstrated applicability to tequila,” the filing states. “Plaintiffs’ claims are not only false, they are the definition of implausible.”

At several points in the filing, Diageo questions the size and scale of the supposed conspiracy, pointing out that its production process is overseen not only by distillers, but by independent parties like the Tequila Regulatory Council.

“Plaintiffs do not allege any flaw or vulnerability in Diageo’s meticulous and rigorously monitored tequila-making process, any failure of internal controls, any disclosure, investigation, or judicial finding, nor any whistleblower—among the hundreds if not thousands of people involved in making Casamigos and Don Julio tequilas—to support their claim,” the fiing reads.

The Tequila Regulatory Council and the Mexican Chamber of the Tequila Industry (CNIT) have both denied the lawsuit’s claims. In an email shared with The Daily Pour, CNIT general director Ana Cristina Villalpando Fonseca wrote, “No other person, institution, or group — regardless of its claims — holds the legal authority or technical capacity to issue official determinations regarding adulteration or regulatory compliance.”

Diageo isn’t the only company fending off accusations of tequila adulteration. In September, Michael Jordan’s Cincoro and Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila were hit with similar class action suits, both of which revolved around the basis of NMR testing.

Months earlier, Additive-Free Alliance founder Grover Sanschagrin alleged that 15 “100% agave” tequilas from nine different distilleries tested positive for significant concentrations of non-agave alcohol. No brands were mentioned by name in his filing.