Dreyer’s Loses Court Bid Against Ben & Jerry’s

Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Inc., the largest U.S. ice-cream maker, lost a court fight to prevent Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. from dropping Oakland-based Dreyer’s as its distributor in much of the U.S. The maker of the Dreyer’s, Edy’s and Starbucks brands had asked the U.S. District Court in San Francisco for a preliminary injunction blocking Ben & Jerry’s move without a trial. District Judge Fern Smith rejected Dreyer’s argument that an injunction was warranted. Dreyer’s said it couldn’t wait for a trial on potential damages because it would be impossible to calculate lost profit from the contract’s termination. Ben & Jerry’s said in August that it would terminate the distribution contract and would switch to Diageo’s Haagen-Dazs unit. Dreyer’s claimed that South Burlington, Vt.-based Ben & Jerry’s failed to give it a required 12-month notice. Dreyer’s last month said it will cut jobs and sell some operations, taking pretax charges of between $60 million and $65 million, to cut costs and return to profitability. In Nasdaq trading, Dreyer’s stock fell $1.13 to close at $13.63, and Ben & Jerry’s shares rose 19 cents to close at $19.94.