The Don Julio lawsuit is a set of consumer class actions filed in 2025 accusing Diageo North America of falsely marketing Don Julio (and its sister brand Casamigos) as “100% Blue Weber Agave” when laboratory testing allegedly shows the bottles contain substantial amounts of cane or corn alcohol. Diageo denies the allegations, has moved to dismiss, and as of mid-2026 no case has been decided, certified as a class, or settled.1Hagens Berman. Casamigos Don Julio Tequila2The Spirits Business. Diageo Doubles Down on Defence of 100% Agave Tequilas
What Buyers Are Claiming
The complaints share a single theory. Don Julio’s website advertises “100% Blue Weber Agave” and Casamigos labels itself “Tequila 100% Agave Azul.” Both Mexican regulations and U.S. rules bar tequila carrying the “100% agave” designation from containing cheaper substitute alcohols. Plaintiffs allege Diageo adulterated its tequila with cane or corn alcohol while charging premium prices consumers paid specifically for pure agave spirits.3Food & Wine. Diageo Class Action Lawsuit Tequila Purity Claims
The claimed injury is economic. Had buyers known the truth about the ingredients, the lawsuits argue, they either would not have bought the bottles or would not have paid what they did.1Hagens Berman. Casamigos Don Julio Tequila The New York complaint asserts claims under New York’s Deceptive Acts and Practices Law and False Advertising Law, the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, and unjust enrichment, seeking monetary damages (including potential treble damages under New York law), restitution, and an injunction against the marketing.4BevLaw. Diageo Suit Complaint
The Lab Testing Behind the Case
The plaintiffs’ evidence rests on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and carbon isotope ratio testing. Those techniques measure the stable carbon isotope signature of ethanol to identify the plant source of the sugar used in fermentation. Agave-derived ethanol produces a different isotopic fingerprint than cane- or corn-derived ethanol. The California complaint cites peer-reviewed studies from 2010 and 2021 that set benchmarks for making the distinction.5KQED. Diageo Class Action Complaint
The California filing lists four specific test results:
- Don Julio 1942 Blanco — an estimated 42% of the ethanol from agave
- Don Julio 1942 Añejo — roughly 33%
- Casamigos Blanco — approximately 33%
- Casamigos Reposado — about 42%
If accurate, well over half the alcohol in each bottle came from non-agave sources.6Drinks International. Two New Lawsuits Filed Against Diageo Amid Tequila Adulteration Claims
The complaints also cite a January 2025 report from the spirits publication Mezcalistas documenting protests by hundreds of agave farmers in Tequila, Jalisco. The farmers marched against what they described as “cold mixing,” the illegal addition of cane or corn alcohol to tequila after fermentation, and alleged that tanker trucks delivering cane alcohol had been observed arriving at distilleries.7Mezcalistas. Breaking Tequila News4BevLaw. Diageo Suit Complaint
Where the Cases Were Filed and Who Is Suing
The lead case is Pusateri et al. v. Diageo North America, Inc., filed May 5, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Case No. 1:25-cv-02482) before Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall. The named plaintiffs are Avi Pusateri, Chaim Mishulovin, and the restaurant Sushi Tokyo Inc., represented by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and The Berkman Law Office LLC. The proposed class covers buyers in New York and New Jersey within the statute of limitations.8Top Class Actions. Casamigos and Don Julio Tequilas Aren’t 100% Agave as Advertised Class Action Lawsuit Claims
A nearly identical case, Jackson v. Diageo North America, Inc. (Case No. 3:25-cv-05654-MMC), was filed July 4, 2025, in the Northern District of California by Jacqueline Jackson, represented by Baron & Budd, P.C. and Hagens Berman. That proposed class covers purchasers throughout the United States.5KQED. Diageo Class Action Complaint A parallel action was filed in Florida federal court around the same time, though specific plaintiff names and the case number have not been publicly identified in available reporting.9The Drinks Business. Diageo Moves to Dismiss Implausible 100% Agave Tequila Lawsuit
On May 20, 2025, the firm Lambert Avocats filed an application in Quebec Superior Court to authorize a class action against Diageo Canada Inc. covering Quebec residents who purchased listed Casamigos and Don Julio products since May 20, 2022. The claim alleges misrepresentation under Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act and seeks damages and punitive damages. The case is pending authorization.10Lambert Avocats. Class Action Diageo
How Diageo Is Responding
Diageo has denied the allegations forcefully. Stephen Rust, the company’s President of U.S. Spirits, called the claims “unfounded and absurd” and “fundamentally false,” describing the litigation as “a deliberate attempt to hurt our brands, hurt our people, hurt our industry.”11USBG. Unfounded and Absurd: Diageo Responds to Class Action Lawsuit Claims
In motions to dismiss filed in late October and early November 2025 in both the Florida and New York cases, Diageo argued that the plaintiffs’ testing is “scientifically unvalidated,” rests on a handful of samples from an unidentified source, and was conducted on bottles the plaintiffs themselves did not purchase. The Florida filing compared the reasoning to flat-earth logic, calling it “the equivalent of someone claiming the earth is flat because he saw a ‘test’ result somewhere that says his neighbour’s backyard is level.” Diageo said all products labeled “100% agave” are made entirely from Blue Weber agave, described “multiple layers of verification” by internal teams and independent regulators, and pointed to compliance with Mexico’s official tequila standard (NOM-006) as certified by the Tequila Regulatory Council (CRT) and approved by the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.12The Drinks Business. Diageo Rejects Flat Earth Tequila Purity Claims13Drinks Intel. Diageo Seeks Dismissal of Casamigos Don Julio Tequila US Class Action
The company called the complaints “copycat conjecture,” said plaintiffs identified no flaw in the production process and offered no whistleblower or internal evidence, and challenged the plaintiffs to submit their testing methodology to the CRT for peer review.12The Drinks Business. Diageo Rejects Flat Earth Tequila Purity Claims11USBG. Unfounded and Absurd: Diageo Responds to Class Action Lawsuit Claims
Where the Litigation Stands
As of mid-2026, none of the cases have been resolved. Briefing on Diageo’s motion to dismiss the lead New York case wrapped up on December 15, 2025, after plaintiffs opposed on December 1 and Diageo replied two weeks later. Judge DeArcy Hall has not yet ruled. In May 2026 Diageo asked the court to stay all proceedings until the motions to dismiss are decided; plaintiffs opposed the stay, and a status conference was set for June 17, 2026.14PACER Monitor. Pusateri et al v Diageo North America Inc
Plaintiffs also tried to consolidate the New York case with two related actions, Haschemie v. Diageo (1:25-cv-07036) and Jackson v. Diageo (1:25-cv-06994), but withdrew the motion in late April 2026 after Judge DeArcy Hall declined to grant a pre-motion conference. No class has been certified in any of the cases, and no settlement discussions have been reported.14PACER Monitor. Pusateri et al v Diageo North America Inc1Hagens Berman. Casamigos Don Julio Tequila
Why This Fight Is Happening Now
The Diageo cases sit inside a wider industry dispute over tequila purity claims and the credibility of Mexico’s regulator. The NMR methodology cited in the complaints traces back to the Additive Free Alliance (AFA), a nonprofit founded by Grover Sanschagrin that has offered independent verification of brands’ additive-free status. In March 2025 the CRT sued the AFA and Sanschagrin’s company S2F Online in the Middle District of Florida, alleging an unauthorized certification program and trademark infringement. The CRT argued that because Mexican rules allow up to 1% additives (“abocantes”), no tequila can truly be certified additive-free. The case was dismissed without prejudice on September 11, 2025, for failure to comply with a court order.15The Spirits Business. CRT Sues Additive Free Alliance16CourtListener. Consejo Regulador Del Tequila AC v Additive Free Alliance Inc
The CRT also revoked Patrón’s export certificate for four days in February 2025 after the Bacardi-owned brand launched a U.S. campaign describing itself as “100% Additive-Free Tequila.” Patrón removed the explicit additive-free messaging from its website to restore its export license, though it argued the CRT had no jurisdiction over its U.S. marketing.17Forbes. After Clash in Mexico Patrón Defends Additive-Free Tequila Messaging18The Spirits Business. Patrón Tequila Addresses Additive-Free Dispute
Plaintiffs in the Diageo lawsuits point to those episodes as evidence that the CRT is more interested in protecting large producers than in enforcing purity. The CRT has taken no enforcement action against Don Julio or Casamigos and maintains that all Diageo tequilas meet NOM-006.19Drinks Trade. Diageo North America Faces Lawsuit Over Tequila Purity Claims Whether the label on the bottle matches what’s inside it is now a question for the courts.