NEW YORK – The board of the Vermont-based premium ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s has once again sued its corporate parents for breaching contractual agreements by censoring and blocking the board’s efforts to support a cease fire and peace for the crisis in Gaza.
In 2022, the brand known for its social awareness confidentially settled a dispute with its parent company Unilever, a multinational consumer product company, over the brand’s corporate governance, including the licensing of Ben & Jerry’s products in the West Bank. At that time, the board had announced it would be ceasing selling the ice cream in occupied Palestinian territory, but Unilever turned around and sold the rights to a third party to sell the brand in those areas.
“Unilever has repeatedly failed to recognize and respect the Independent Board’s primary responsibility over Ben & Jerry’s Social Mission and Brand Integrity, including threatening Ben & Jerry’s personnel should the company speak regarding issues which Unilever prefers to censor. The Independent Board initiates this litigation to protect Ben & Jerry’s three-part mission from Unilever’s unilateral erosion and to safeguard the company from Unilever’s repeated overreaches,” states the lawsuit filed by AZA for client Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc.
“Social justice and human rights are core to Ben & Jerry’s DNA,” reads the lawsuit filed by Shahmeer Halepota, working with fellow AZA lawyers Daryl Moore, Edward Goolsby, Weining Bai, Angela Peterson and Sean Healey. “For over four decades, the company has taken public progressive stances on issues such as migrant justice, LGBTQ+ rights, Black Lives Matter, GMO labeling and a variety of other economic and social causes affecting historically marginalized communities.”
Unilever blocked Ben & Jerry’s attempts to voice support for peace and a cease fire in Gaza, for student voices on campus supporting basic human rights, and for safe passage of refugees from Gaza, among other things.
“Unilever has blocked Ben & Jerry’s statements, threatened to dismantle the board and sue its members, intimidated employees and blocked charitable donations, including to organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace,” Mr. Halepota said. “Unilever’s feigned neutrality is contradicted by its donations to other organizations as well as its partisan stances in conflicts such as Russia/Ukraine.”
Ben & Jerry’s asks the court to enforce the original 2020 merger agreement and the 2022 settlement that requires the parent company to respect the board’s integrity and social missions.
This lawsuit filed in federal court this week has been covered by many national and international media, including The New York Times, the Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Reuters and The Times of Israel.
The case is Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Holdings Inc., vs. Unilever PLC and Conopco, Inc., in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:24-cv-08641.
AZA, or Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing, is a Houston-based law firm that is home to true courtroom lawyers with a formidable track record in complex commercial litigation, including energy, healthcare, intellectual property and business dispute cases. AZA is recognized by Chambers USA 2024 as among the best in Texas in commercial law and intellectual property; has been listed by Best Lawyers’ Best Law Firms as one of the country’s best commercial litigation firms for 13 years; has been named Litigation Department of the Year by Texas Lawyer three times; and was previously dubbed a Texas Powerhouse law firm by Law360.