CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) - A Chicago federal judge has given final approval to a class action settlement that seeks to give consumers $0.27 per bag of TGI Friday's-brand cheese stick snacks they purchased.
Judge Young B. Kim gave final approval to the agreement on Oct. 30, ordering a final accounting report by March 22. The lawsuit accused Inventure Foods, which purchased the TGI Friday's brand for its bagged mozzarella stick snacks sold in grocery and convenience stores, of using cheddar.
Though claims against TGI Friday's were dismissed, Judge Robert Dow had allowed the case to proceed past a motion to dismiss by Inventure.
It led to a $900,000 settlement that pays class members on a pro rata basis. On Aug. 8, lawyers from Zimmerman Law Offices asked for $246,667.
A notice program reached 80% of the proposed class, the settlement administrator found. Close to 133,000 claims were approved, with only one opt-out and no objections.
The motion says members who submit claims will get up to $0.30 per purchase, up to 20 purchases. It is estimated that the settlement will ultimately pay $0.27 per purchase.
Uncashed checks will be given to the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau.
Plaintiff Amy Joseph adequately alleged reasonable consumers relied on the "mozzarella" description and were harmed when they purchased a product made with cheddar, Dow wrote last year.
"While Defendants are correct that the packaging does not explicitly state that it 'contains mozzarella cheese,' Defendants' interpretation of the product is not the only reasonable interpretation of the product's packaging," the ruling says.
"As Plaintiff suggests, another reasonable interpretation is that a product labelled 'Mozzarella Stick Snacks' with an image of mozzarella sticks would bear some resemblance to mozzarella sticks, which presumably contain some mozzarella cheese."
Dow's decision asks why market a product without mozzarella cheese under the TGIF logo, since the business has a "strong correlation to the hot appetizer mozzarella sticks."
Joseph's involvement in the case was questioned by the defendants.
They said Joseph was a frequent filer of class actions (at least eight in Illinois state and federal courts in the decade prior to suing over mozzarella sticks) and claimed she only bought the snack so she could file suit.