Pepsico achieved the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by an exexecutive who said that the food and beverage company disappointed and defamed by denying that he had invented the Flamin ‘Hot Cheetos.
In a decision on Wednesday, the American district judge John Holcomb said that Richard Montanez, who retired from Pepsico in 2019 to become a full-time motivational speaker, did not show that Pepsico and his Frito-Lay unit intentionally breached a promise to tell the “true story” of how he created the popular spicy fries.
Santa Ana’s headquarters, California, also said that Pepsico did not defame Montanez to allegedly refuse 2023 to collaborate in a documentary about his life unless he discredited his statement.
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Holcomb said that the standard of real malice for the defamation, which requires knowledge of falsehood or unpurious contempt for the truth, was appropriate based on Montanez’s description itself as “part of the cultural canon” through two supervent books and a successful film directed by Eva Longoria.
Montanez’s lawyers did not immediately respond to comments requests on Thursday. Camille Vásquez, Pepsico’s lawyer, based in Purchase, New York, declined to comment.
Montanez began in 1976 as Frito-Lay’s janitor in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and ascended until he became vice president of Marketing and Multicultural Sales of Pepsico.
He said he started what became Flamin ‘Hot Cheetos around 1989, when he wore cheettes without home flavor to experiment with condiments and “was inspired” in the corn, a Mexican corn roasted seasoned with Chile powder.
Pepsico introduced the Flamin ‘Hot Cheetos in 1992 and turned them into a multimillionaire brand.
Montanez said that once he got 35 contracts to give lectures per year, between 10,000 and 50,000 dollars each, but lost most of his contracts after an article in the Los Angeles Times newspaper of May 2021 in which Frito-Lay rejected the “urban legend” that he had invented fries.
Frito-Lay subsequently declared that his comments were misunderstood and had no reason to doubt Montanez’s efforts to create new cheetos products. The newspaper defended its report.
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Montanez’s story about the Flamin ‘Hot Cheetos was told in the Longoria film of 2023, “Flamin’ Hot”, and in two memories.
The case is Martínez V Pepsico Inc et al, District Court of the US, Central District of California, No. 24-01792.
With Reuters information
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