U.S. District Judge April Perry in Chicago ruled Friday that McDonald's must face a proposed class action accusing the chain of misleading customers about the meat in its McRib, according to LiveNOW from FOX.

Perry rejected the company's bid to dismiss the lawsuit in its entirety, keeping the consumer deception, fraud and unjust enrichment claims alive while dismissing five other claims without prejudice.

LiveNOW from FOX reports the suit was filed by four consumers in December and alleges the McRib patty is shaped to resemble a rack of pork ribs despite containing no actual rib meat.

Both LiveNOW from FOX and CBS News note the ruling lets portions of the case proceed but does not establish that McDonald's engaged in deceptive advertising.

The most striking reasoning in the ruling, as reported by LiveNOW from FOX, is Perry's rejection of McDonald's argument that the McRib's trademarked name shields the company from deceptive-marketing claims.

She noted that other McDonald's products, including the McChicken and the Egg McMuffin, carry names that describe their ingredients — a comparison that cuts against treating the McRib name as pure branding.

Perry also determined it was too early to conclude that consumers could not reasonably expect the sandwich to contain rib meat, citing allegations about its marketing.

For a sandwich with a cult following since its 1981 introduction and periodic limited-time returns, that framing keeps the dispute focused on what the name and the rib-shaped patty actually promise.

The evidence side of the ruling is what separates this update from the lawsuit's mere existence.

LiveNOW from FOX reports that one survey cited in the court filing found 72% of respondents expected the McRib to contain rib meat, while another found 67% considered rib meat important or very important to their purchasing decision — numbers Perry weighed in deciding reasonable consumers could plausibly have been misled.

LiveNOW from FOX also details the plaintiffs' core allegation: that the patty contains lower-grade pork products including pork shoulder, heart, tripe and stomach rather than rib meat.

McDonald's has denied the allegations, maintaining the sandwich contains 100% pork from U.S. farmers and suppliers, and told FOX Business, as cited by LiveNOW from FOX, that it does not use heart, tripe or scalded stomach in the patty.

The stakes now extend to how fast-food names and marketing can shape customer expectations across the industry. McDonald's has consistently argued that its publicly available ingredient list identifies pork as the primary ingredient and that the name does not mislead reasonable consumers.

LiveNOW from FOX reports a McDonald's representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. CBS News, in its Chicago coverage, framed the dispute simply: the suit accuses the chain of misleading customers about a patty designed to resemble pork ribs without containing any rib meat.