Lindt & Sprungli, the multinational chocolatier that owns Iola’s Russell Stover Candies factory, was recently awarded $33 million in a federal court trial, according to The Kansas City Star.
The Switzerland-based company purchased Kansas City’s Russell Stover Candies for $1.6 billion in 2014.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri in 2022 against GXO Warehouse Co., a logistics company, the Star reported. Lindt alleged that after it completed its acquisition of Russell Stover, it sought to consolidate the warehouses for Lindt’s growing portfolio of chocolate brands. (Lindt also owns Ghirardelli, the third-oldest chocolate company in the U.S.)
GXO, then known as XPO Logistics, was hired to manage the overhaul. The system XPO implemented broke down during December 2018 and early 2019, Lindt alleged, disrupting its peak season for chocolate sales and causing “massive harm” to the company.
“Because the Lindt companies (and Ghirardelli in particular) were unable to get their products on retail shelves and keep them stocked as necessary during this crucial time, Lindt lost millions of dollars in sales that it would have and should have ordinarily made,” the complaint reads.
“Lindt also incurred many millions of dollars in other expenses resulting from XPO’s failings; for example, costs of deeply discounting holiday motif products that were delivered after the holidays; destroying or donating expired products; and paying customer fines for late deliveries.”
The Star reported that Lindt also alleged that XPO falsified inventory records to give the impression the shipments had been completed when in fact they hadn’t.
The trial was held in Missouri, where Lindt & Sprungli’s North American division is headquartered.
In early April, the jury awarded Lindt $18.3 million in lost profits and $15.1 million in extraordinary expenses.
