Ice cream brand scooping $8.85 million to customers in class action lawsuit – see if you qualify
A view of Breyers gelato during the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards on February 27, 2016 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/WireImage)
Breyers Ice Cream is paying out nearly $9 million as part of a class action settlement – and you might be entitled to some of the money.
The Supreme Court of New York State, Bronx County, announced the settlement against Conopco Inc. and Unilever United States Inc. on Sept. 13. Conopco and Unilever are the advertiser and parent company of Breyers, respectively.
The class action lawsuit pertains to Breyers' Natural Vanilla ice cream flavor, which allegedly falsely advertised itself as having real vanilla flavor.
"Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit against the Defendants alleging the Defendants' labeling of Breyers Natural Vanilla ice cream gave consumers the impression the ice cream contained vanilla flavor derived only from the vanilla plant and not from non-vanilla plant sources, and allege that it contained non-vanilla plant vanilla flavors," the court explained in a release.
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"The Defendants dispute all of these allegations and deny any wrongdoing. The Court has not decided who is right."
Consumers who purchased the Natural Vanilla flavored-ice cream between April 21, 2016, and Aug. 14, 2024, may be entitled to cash.
Although the jury is still out about the authenticity of the vanilla flavoring, the defendants agreed to create an $8.85 settlement fund for the customers who paid for Natural Vanilla cartons.
The court will pay consumers $1 per carton of Breyers' Natural Vanilla ice cream flavor they purchased.
In order to qualify, consumers are asked to submit proof of purchase. Customers with valid receipts are entitled to submit any number of claims that they can authenticate.
The court is allowing Breyers' customers without proof of purchase to submit up to eight claim forms, which would make the total payout up to $8 per person.
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The court also established that within a year of the settlement finalizing, Breyers "will be required to develop a new Product formula that does not include vanilla derived from non-vanilla plant sources."
Ice cream lovers interested in applying for the settlement can submit a claim through vanillaicecreamsettlement.com.
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FOX Business reached out to Breyers for comment.
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