Courthouse News Service:
A dispute over “overrun” – the air pumped into ice cream – has led a franchisee of a low-calorie ice cream chain to accuse News Corp. and Fox 5 News of defaming it in a “disparaging” broadcast “assault.”
Lead plaintiff Matthew Prince, a franchisee of D’Lites Emporium ice cream, opened three outlets in the New York Metro area under the L.A.M.D.B.H. corporate name. The company has no ties to the similarly named Tasti D-Lite chain, which has about 30 stores in the tri-state area.
Prince says that Fox reporter, and co-defendant, Arnold Diaz defamed his ice cream to “millions of audience viewers” on an 8-minute May 12 broadcast on Diaz’s “popular segment ‘Shame, Shame, Shame,'” which “mentioned all three of L.A.M.D.B.H. locations by name.”
Prince claims the broadcast “ruined” his plans to open 15 new stores, and that at least one potential landlord “ceased negotiations” after seeing the “Shame segment.” Prince says he’s invested more than $1 million into licensing rights and other expenses for his ice cream stores.