Sugar-free McCafé beverages contain sugar from lactose, a new class action claims.

On Nov. 6, 2026, Abigail Camacho, Alfredo Aguilar and LaTonya Wright filed a class action lawsuit against McDonald's Corp. and McDonald's USA LLC in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The three customers claim McDonald's sells eight McCafé drinks under the name "sugar free" yet a large serving contains between 2 and 18 grams of sugar.

The lawsuit's sugar claims

The class action includes McCafé vanilla and French vanilla lattes, cappuccinos and iced coffees that have "sugar free" in their names. The eight drinks are:


  • Sugar Free French Vanilla Latte

  • Sugar Free French Vanilla Cappuccino

  • Sugar Free Iced French Vanilla Latte

  • Iced Sugar Free French Vanilla Coffee

  • Sugar Free Vanilla Latte

  • Sugar Free Vanilla Cappuccino

  • Sugar Free Iced Vanilla Latte

  • Iced Sugar Free Vanilla Coffee

The proposed class action contends McDonald's claims the sugar in these drinks comes from lactose, which occurs naturally in their milk and cream, and not from the flavor syrup. However, federal rules count lactose toward a product's sugar and allow a sugar-free claim only when a serving has less than 0.5 grams, according to the lawsuit. It claims the drinks have roughly four to 36 times that limit in a large serving.

Federal rules also require most sugar-free products to state plainly when they are not low in calories yet none of the eight drinks does, the filing alleges. It says McDonald's does not provide the drinks' sugar content on menus, kiosks, cups or delivery apps. This information is only available on the company's website after several clicks, the lawsuit asserts.

The switch to 'reduced sugar'

The complaint claims McDonald's swapped "sugar free" for "reduced sugar" in the names of some drinks, including its vanilla cappuccino and iced vanilla coffee, after a similar lawsuit against Starbucks in October 2026. However, the descriptions for the renamed drinks allegedly still call them sugar free.

Camacho, Aguilar and Wright argue the new name breaks federal rules, too, because a reduced-sugar claim must name a comparison food and state how much less sugar the product has.

The legal claims

The lawsuit brings seeral claims:


  • Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, which bars deceptive business practices

  • California Unfair Competition Law (three claims) and False Advertising Law, which bar unlawful, unfair and fraudulent practices and misleading ads

  • California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, which bars deceptive practices in consumer sales

  • New York General Business Law Sections 349 and 350, which ban deceptive practices and false advertising

  • Unjust enrichment, which applies when a company keeps money it gained unfairly

The proposed class action seeks refunds, compensation for buyers' losses, punitive damages, attorneys' fees and a court order barring the sugar-free name on drinks over the federal limit.

What the lawsuit means for McCafé customers

The proposed class covers anyone in the United States who bought one of the eight drinks in the three years before the lawsuit. As a fallback, the plaintiffs propose separate groups for buyers in Illinois, California and New York.

As of this writing, there is no settlement, no claims process and no money available.