Class action lawsuit against Totally Cool: Ice cream contaminated with listeria

Overview of the ice cream listeria class action lawsuit:

• WHO: Plaintiff Leslie Price has filed a class action lawsuit against Totally Cool Inc.
• Why: Totally Cool allegedly failed to disclose that its ice cream products may be contaminated with listeria.
• Where: The class action lawsuit against Totally Cool was filed in federal court in New York.

A new class action lawsuit against Totally Cool accuses the company of misleadingly labeling its products and failing to warn that they may be contaminated with listeria ice cream.

Totally Cool manufactures and sells the following ice cream brands: Friendly’s, Abilyns Frozen Bakery, Hershey’s, Yelloh!, Jeni’s, Cumberland Farms, The Frozen Farmer, Marco, Chipwich, AMAFruits, Taharka, Dolcezza Gelato and LaSalle.

Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and life-threatening health consequences, especially for pregnant women, infants, the elderly and immunocompromised individuals, according to Totally Cool’s class action lawsuit.

Totally Cool recalled the products possibly contaminated with listeria on June 25.

According to plaintiff Leslie Price, consumers trust manufacturers to sell products that are free of harmful contaminants that could potentially be life-threatening.

Listeria contamination in ice cream can cause several types of infections, including sepsis, meningitis, encephalitis, miscarriages and other health conditions, Price says.

“In addition, the infection results in a hospitalization rate of 95% and a high fatality rate of 20%, making Listeria monocytogenes infection quite dangerous,” Totally Cool’s class action lawsuit states.

Totally Cool class action lawsuit: Recall prevents refunds for most consumers

Price claims the recall of Totally Cool ice cream due to listeria was “intentionally designed to exclude the vast majority of consumers” from a refund.

To receive a refund, consumers should return recalled products to the place where they purchased them. Price points out that most consumers who learn that their ice cream may be contaminated with listeria would throw the product away. Customers also often don’t keep receipts and may not shop at the same stores, so they may not know which store to return their products to, even if they still have the recalled ice cream in their possession.

Price claims she would not have purchased Totally Cool products if she had known about the possible listeria contamination in the ice cream. She says she bought more of the products and/or paid more for them than she would have if she had known the truth about them.

The Totally Cool class action lawsuit asserts claims for violations of New York General Business Law and breach of express warranties.

Last summer, Van Leeuwen remembered more than 4,000 pints of Brown Sugar Chunk ice cream because they may have contained walnuts, an undeclared allergen.

What do you think about the allegations in the Totally Cool class action lawsuit? Join the discussion in the comments.

Price is represented by Jason P. Sultzer and Daniel Markowitz of Sultzer & Lipari PLLC and Nick Suciu III of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC.

The Class action lawsuit over listeria infections in Totally Cool ice cream Is Leslie Price v. Totally Cool Inc.Case No. 7:24-cv-04865, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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