Makers of Mississippi-based mosquito killer accused of fraud; attempt to dismiss case denied

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WLBT) - Mississippi-based AC2T, the inventors of the Spartan Mosquito Eradicator, are embroiled in a class action lawsuit.

Earlier this week, Senior United States District Judge Frederic Block denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which was filed last year.

The lawsuit was filed by Kalman Rosenfeld, who claims the product is a scam. The suit seeks counts of deceptive acts or practices, false advertising, unjust enrichment, breach of express warranty and fraud.

Rosenfeld, who lives in New York, launched the lawsuit after buying the product at Home Depot. He seeks to represent all Americans who purchased the product.

AC2T operates out of Laurel, Mississippi, and manufactures and sells products under Spartan Mosquito’s name. Bonner Analytical Testing Co. is based out of Hattiesburg and is responsible for conducting and reporting test results on the product’s efficacy.

Rosenfeld claims the product is ineffective for killing mosquitoes and accused the product makers of knowing this but selling it anyway.

“Defendants are well-aware that the Product is ineffective yet sell it anyway in pursuit of profit and in clear disregard for public health and safety,” the suit claims.

Spartan claims its mixture of salt, sugar and yeast kills mosquitoes by producing carbon dioxide, which the mosquitoes then eat and die.

The lawsuit cites a study from the Journal of the Florida Mosquito Control Association which references Spartan Mosquito Eradicator by name, claiming this mixture does not work.

Bonner and Jeremy Hirsch, Spartan’s founder, sought for the suit to be thrown out because, “It argues that because those studies did not test Spartan’s particular chemical formulation, but rather tested only its constituent ingredients, they cannot support conclusions regarding Spartan’s effectiveness or establish the plausibility of the complaint.”

Bonner and Hirsch were dismissed from the case, but the suit remains against AC2T.

The court decided that because Rosenfeld only needed to meet the standard of plausibility, the suit would not be thrown out.

“The claim that a product physically cannot work is a valid legal theory,” Block’s decision reads.