See what you click on FoxBusiness.com. Rebel Creamery filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Utah, reporting approximately $13.78 million in assets and $23.85 million in liabilities as it appeals a $23.785 million judgment awarded to rival Van Leeuwen Ice Cream in a trade dress dispute. Rebel ice cream is sold at Walmart, Kroger, Safeway and other grocery stores nationwide. Rebel Creamery LLC filed for Chapter 11 protection on Aug. 14 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah, according to court records. Van Leeuwen is listed among Rebel’s unsecured creditors with a $23.785 million claim arising from the federal judgment. Rebel listed the claim as disputed and noted that the ruling is under appeal. MAJOR CARL’S JR OPERATOR IS REPORTED TO CLOSE AND SELL DOZENS OF CALIFORNIA LOCATIONS Rebel Creamery has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following a multimillion-dollar judgment in a packaging dispute with rival Van Leeuwen Ice Cream. (Getty Images) The Van Leeuwen ruling accounts for almost all of the unsecured liabilities that Rebel listed in fixed amounts in its bankruptcy schedules. The company also reported approximately $5.22 million in cash and cash equivalents, $2.59 million in accounts receivable, and $5.65 million in inventory. Rebel’s voluntary petition estimated both its assets and liabilities at between $10 million and $50 million and said the funds would be available for distribution to unsecured creditors. The filing lists Austin Archibald as a manager and member of the company and Michael Johnson of Ray Quinney & Nebeker as bankruptcy counsel. The bankruptcy filing came less than a month after U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee ruled that Rebel had intentionally infringed and diluted Van Leeuwen’s trade dress through its ice cream packaging. Rebel ice cream is sold in Walmart stores. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) “The evidence at that trial left no doubt that Rebel infringed and diluted Van Leeuwen’s trade dress and did so intentionally,” Komitee wrote in a July 16 memorandum and order. Van Leeuwen sued Rebel in 2021, alleging that the company’s packaging copied the distinctive appearance of its ice cream pints. DETROIT BANKRUPTCY CASE OFFICIALLY CLOSED MORE THAN 13 YEARS AFTER HISTORIC FILING The court described Van Leeuwen’s trade dress as monochromatic cardboard pints with matching lids, a primarily pastel color palette, black lettering and an overall minimalist design. Komitee found that Rebel’s packaging was similar and that evidence supported findings of consumer confusion and bad faith. The judge ordered Rebel to stop selling products with a trade dress that could be confused with Van Leeuwen’s and required the company to redesign its packaging. President Joe Biden, flanked by host Seth Meyers, sponsored Van Leeuwen Ice Cream after taping an episode of “Late Night with Seth Meyers” in New York City on February 26, 2024. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images) Van Leeuwen sought $36.4 million in profits from Rebel, but the court reduced the award by 33%, finding that some sales were boosted by the keto and better for you ice cream lawsuit in lieu of reduction left Van Leeuwen entitled to $23.785 million in Rebel profits from sales of pints of ice cream bearing the infringing trade dress. Court documents do not establish that Van Leeuwen’s ruling was the sole cause of Rebel’s bankruptcy filing.
