Halo Top ice cream skimping lawsuit is heating up
Attorney Andrew Brown on the lawsuit against Halo Top accusing the company under-filling pints of ice cream.
Halo Top, the ice cream that averages between 280-360 calories per pint, is defending itself against allegations its skimping on its pints.
In an email statement to FOX Business, a Halo Top representative denies the claims and says, “We have never and would never under-fill our pints" and reiterated that product settling can occur from time to time “due to everything from heat fluctuations to altitude changes during shipping and handling.”
Still, Andrew Brown, the attorney for the plaintiffs, tells FOX Business’ Charles Payne that it doesn’t matter what causes the shrinkage, customers are still getting cheated.
“It could be global-warming [but] if someone buys a pint of ice cream and they don’t get a pint of ice cream, then what do you do then? They just pay more than they should have paid for a pint of ice cream? It has been going on for years throughout the country,” Brown said.
Earlier this month, two Californians filed a 13-page complaint accusing Eden Creamery LLC, the parent company of the low-calorie ice cream maker, of swindling its customers into thinking they were getting a full pint of ice cream, when in fact they weren't.
Since the suit was filed, Brown says he has been flooded with complaints from other customers.
“I’ve been getting emailed pictures from customers all over the country of half-filled pints of ice cream and they also send me correspondence from the company [and] they sent me receipts of purchase. There are all sorts of ways to prove this case,” Brown says.
In the federal class-action lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego, Halo Top is accused of “short-changing customers” who are paying $6.99 for what they think is a pint. The plaintiffs want the company to stop advertising their ice cream as a pint and refund its customers for the faux pas.
“If the jury decides it’s a buck then we are satisfied with a dollar but if I can prove that it’s more than that, then I expect everyone and myself to be satisfied that it’s much more than that,” Brown says.
Halo Top was founded in 2011 and quickly became the top-selling ice cream in country, beating out top competitors such as Haagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s due to its low-calorie, low-sugar marketing.
The company has been valued at $2 billion.