Dive Brief:

• Maxim Marketing is seeking $60 million in damages in a breach of contract lawsuit related to peanut-butter-stuffed pretzels sold at Trader Joe's.
• Maxim had supplied the snacks to the retailer for 25 years, but in October of last year, Trader Joe's terminated the relationship.
• The pretzels were manufactured for Maxim by Anderson Bakery. But in 2011, ConAgra acquired Anderson's parent company. 
• The pretzels are allegedly now sold directly to Trader Joe's by ConAgra, squeezing Maxim out of the chain for the product.

Dive Insight:

Trader Joe's declined to comment to the press. ConAgra denied the allegations. So we have to give them the benefit of a doubt in this case. Still, it's hard not to accept Maxim's version of events. The only issues, it seems to us, are if the agreements that Maxim had with ConAgra and Trader Joe's prior to ConAgra's purchase of Anderson were contractual or informal and if they remained in place after the sale.

That's what the court will have to decide. In the meantime, both ConAgra and Trader Joe's should note that they may already be losing in the court of public opinion. Loads of people sue companies every day. Seldom do those lawsuits generate any press coverage. But this case, with its David vs. Goliath imagery and those wacky peanut-butter-filled pretzel things, seems ready made for those of us in the press. The retailer and ConAgra may wish to consider what damage their reputations will suffer among suppliers as the news of this case grows.