- On August 30, U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman dismissed a consumer class action lawsuit
against Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Inc., the makers of
Haagen-Dazs vanilla milk chocolate almond ice cream bars
(subscription to Law360 required). The judge held that no
reasonable consumer would understand the representations on the
product label to mean that the ice cream coating contained only
chocolate. Further, judge Feinerman found that plaintiff Lawrence
Rice has no standing to pursue injunctive relief because he is
aware that the product contains vegetable oil and therefore faces
no risk of future harm or deception from the principal display
panel's failure to mention the ingredient.
- As background, we previously reported on this case in July and November of 2021. Rice alleged that
Dreyer's failed to inform consumers that it used coconut oil as
a substitute for some cacao beans to make the chocolate in the
vanilla milk chocolate almond ice cream bars coating. He argued
that it was false and misleading to characterize the coating as
"milk chocolate" and alleged that the coatings should
have been described as "milk chocolate with vegetable fat
coating" because of the coconut oil that was used.
- Rice's claims were dismissed without prejudice for want of subject matter jurisdiction insofar as they seek injunctive relief and on the merits insofar as they seek monetary relief. Judge Feinerman gave the plaintiff until September 20 to file an amended complaint. If Rice does not replead, the dismissal will convert to a dismissal with prejudice and a judgment will be entered. Keller and Heckman will continue to monitor this case and report on any developments.
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