Rodriguez

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA Crystal RODRIGUEZ, individually and Case No.: 23-cv-0055-AGS-SBC on behalf of all others similarly situated,

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO

Plaintiff, DISMISS IN PART (ECF 12) v.

EQUAL EXCHANGE, INC.,

9 Defendant. 10 This consumer-protection case largely turns on whether it is barred by California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, commonly dubbed “Proposition 65.” The Court grants much of the defense’s motion to dismiss, but parts of the lawsuit survive. BACKGROUND According to the amended complaint, defendant Equal Exchange, Inc., “markets and sells a variety of dark chocolate bars.” (ECF 10, at 2.) Two of defendant’s products purportedly “contain not only substantial amounts of lead, but also . . . amounts of cadmium in excess” of the maximum level allowable in California. (Id. at 2–3.) Equal Exchange allegedly “failed to disclose” that its products “contain unsafe levels of [these] toxic heavy 20…