CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) - A lawsuit targets Costco over ice cream bars sold at its stores.
Mike Karlinski, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a federal class action complaint on July 17 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Costco Wholesale Corporation for alleged consumer fraud and deceptive businesses practices, breaches of express warranty, negligent misrepresentation, fraud and unjust enrichment.
The suit says "chocolate" covered ice creams bars sold at the store do not contain "real" chocolate.
According to the complaint, Karlinski alleges that Kirkland Chocolate Almond Dipped Vanilla Ice Cream Bars, sold by Costco Wholesale Corporation, do not contain actual, real chocolate.
Chocolate is defined by Merriam-Webster as a food “prepared from ground roasted cacao beans” and Dictionary.com defines chocolate as “a preparation of the seeds of cacao, roasted, husked, and ground, often sweetened and flavored, as with vanilla.” In 2007, a group of the largest confectionery companies sought to re-define chocolate by replacing cacao ingredients with “cocoa butter equivalents” (“CBE”), or vegetable fats, but it was found that supplementing with vegetable oil would make someone feel duped, the suit says.
Karlinski alleges that the ingredients in Kirkland Chocolate Almond Dipped Vanilla Ice Cream Bars contain "Sugar, Coconut Oil, Nonfat Dry Milk, Unsweetened Chocolate, Soybean Oil, Unsweetened Chocolate Processed With Alkali, Soy Lecithin)" as listed as the ingredients on the back of the package, and therefore is not chocolate. The packaging further lies to consumers by stating that the bars do have chocolate in them.
Karlinski seeks preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, injunctive relief to remove or correct the practices of misrepresentation, monetary damages, statutory damages, attorney's fees and cost of suit. Karlinski is represented by Spencer Sheehan or Sheehan and Associates, P.C.
U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois case number 1:21-cv-03813