Cookie Dough Bites, Muddy Bears Slack-Fill Settlement Checks Mailed

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Top Class Actions viewers are reporting that they have received checks for as much as $12.50 from the Cookie Dough Bites, Muddy Bears, Hello Kitty Treats settlement reached over class action allegations that Taste of Nature underfilled cardboard packages of its candy.

Lead plaintiff Dacia Trentham lodged a class action lawsuit against Taste of Nature after she reportedly purchased a package of the company’s candies that contained empty space.

According to the class action lawsuit, certain varieties of the company’s candy were sold in oversized cardboard boxes.

The boxes were opaque, so consumers could not see how much of the product they were actually purchasing, alleged the Cookie Dough Bites, Muddy Bears, Hello Kitty Treats slack-fill class action lawsuit.

Trentham contended that the empty space included in the packaging went above and beyond what was permitted for transportation of the product or product packaging purposes.

According to the Taste of Nature class action lawsuit, there must be a legitimate reason for empty space in products that do not display their contents. Legitimate reasons include protecting the contents during shipping, as well as to account for settling during transportation. Additionally, the machines used to package products may require extra space.

The empty space in Taste of Nature products went above and beyond any legitimate purpose, Trentham claimed.

The Cookie Dough Bites, Muddy Bears, Hello Kitty Treats class action lawsuit settlement was preliminarily approved on June 18, 2018.

Class Members included those who purchased one of more than a dozen candy varieties produced by Taste of Nature between Jan. 1, 2013 and June 18, 2018.

Products include Cookie Dough Bites, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites, Fudge Brownie Cookie Dough Bites, Santa’s Village Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites, Cookies N’ Cream Cookie Dough Bites, Cinnamon Bun Bites, Red Velvet Cupcake Bites, Moon Pie Bites, Strawberry Dream Bites, Birthday Cake Cookie Dough Bites, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites, Muddy Bears, Shari Candies Cherry Sour Balls, Despicable Me 2 Sour Gummies, Sqwigglies, and Hello Kitty Treats.

Under the terms of the class action settlement, Taste of Nature agreed to pay Class Members up to $12.50 for products purchased during the Class period with proof of purchase for up to 50 packages. Class Members without proof of purchase could claim up to $1, or $0.25 per package purchased for up to four packages.

The deadline to make a claim in the Cookie Dough Bites, Muddy Bears, Hello Kitty Treats class action settlement passed on Dec. 24, 2018.

Taste of Nature was also required to review and modify its packaging process to reduce the empty space contained in its products under the terms of the class action settlement.

Congratulations to our Top Class Actions readers who submitted a valid claim and got PAID! If you missed out, sign up for our free newsletter to receive updates on new class action lawsuits and settlements. You can also check out which class action settlements are still accepting claims in our Open Class Action Settlements section. 

Trentham and the Class are represented by David Steelman and Stephen F. Gaunt of Steelman Gaunt & Horsefield and Naomi B. Spector of KamberLaw LLP.

The Cookie Dough Bites, Muddy Bears, Hello Kitty Treats Class Action is Dacia Trentham v. Taste of Nature Inc., Case No. 18PH-CV00751, in Phelps County Circuit Court, Missouri.