Lenny & Larry’s Cookie Lawsuit: DOJ Objection and Amended Settlement

The Lenny and Larry’s cookie lawsuit was a 2017 class action alleging that the company’s four-ounce Complete Cookie contained far less protein than its packaging claimed. Filed as Cowen v. Lenny & Larry’s, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (case no. 1:17-cv-01530), the case produced a proposed $5 million settlement in 2018 that the U.S. Department of Justice publicly criticized as tilted against consumers. The parties then filed an amended deal in April 2019 that cut attorney fees, more than doubled the cash fund for class members, and won final approval later that year.¹

What the Lawsuit Alleged

Lead plaintiff Lori Cowen sued over the labeling on The Complete Cookie, which was marketed as containing 16 grams of protein per four-ounce cookie, split into two eight-gram “servings.” Independent testing cited in the complaint showed the cookies actually contained only four to nine grams of protein — roughly a quarter to a half of the labeled amount.²

The dispute turned on how the company measured protein. According to the complaint, Lenny & Larry’s used nitrogen testing, an inexpensive method that can overstate protein by measuring total nitrogen and converting it to an estimate. Because the packaging listed a “% Daily Value” for protein and made prominent protein claims, the plaintiffs said federal regulations required the more precise PDCAAS method (Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score), which adjusts for how much of the protein the body can actually digest and use.²

The two-serving label on a single cookie compounded the problem. A buyer who ate the whole cookie, which most people did, consumed twice the listed sugar and carbohydrates while getting far less protein than the front-of-package marketing suggested.²

The Original $5 Million Settlement

The proposed deal announced in late 2018 carried a $5 million headline value, but only $1.85 million of that was cash. The remaining $3.15 million was a cy pres award of free cookies shipped to retailers like GNC and The Vitamin Shoppe to be given away to the general public rather than to consumers who had bought the product.³

The cash side broke down roughly as follows:

Attorney fees: about $1.1 million
Notice and administration: $350,000
Cash fund for class members: $350,000
Incentive awards for named plaintiffs: $7,500

Claimants could take a cash payment (up to $50 with proof of purchase, or $10 without) or free cookies. About 90,000 people filed claims and 90 percent chose cash, but because the fund was capped at $350,000, payouts were subject to pro rata reduction. Someone eligible for $50 could expect roughly $25; a claimant without proof of purchase seeking $10 might get about $5.⁴

Why the DOJ Objected

On February 15, 2019, the Department of Justice filed a statement of interest calling the settlement “fatally lopsided.” The DOJ calculated that class members would receive only about $463,000 in real benefits: the $350,000 cash fund plus roughly $113,000 in cookies for the 10 percent of claimants who chose product. That was around 13 percent of the settlement’s stated value.³

Attorney fees drew the sharpest criticism. Class counsel framed the $1.1 million request as 24 percent of the $5 million total. The DOJ argued the $3.15 million public cookie giveaway functioned as a marketing campaign for Lenny & Larry’s and should not count as a class benefit. Excluding it, the fee request came out to roughly 70 percent of what class members actually received. The government suggested a more appropriate fee would fall between $228,000 and $463,000.⁴

The Amended Settlement

On April 2, 2019, the parties filed a revised settlement with materially different terms. The cash fund for class members rose from $350,000 to $889,000. Attorney fees dropped from about $1.1 million to roughly $410,000, within the range the DOJ had recommended. Individual class members also became eligible for up to $35 in free cookies, up from $30.¹

The revised deal’s total value was reported at about $2.3 million, a smaller headline number than the original $5 million but with a larger share going to consumers. A federal judge later approved the amended settlement, and by late September 2019, class members were reported to be receiving payments of $14.60 along with three free cookies.⁵⁶

What Lenny & Larry’s Said and Changed

The company did not concede wrongdoing. CEO Apu Mody said Lenny & Larry’s “admits no fault” and had “no plans to adjust its nutrition facts or claims,” adding that the company settled to avoid ongoing distraction and legal costs. Mody said the protein claims had been verified by an independent third-party laboratory.⁷

Lenny & Larry’s did make practical changes. It introduced a two-ounce snack-size Complete Cookie sold as a single serving, addressing the complaint that the four-ounce cookie’s two-serving label was misleading. Packaging began showing nutritional information both per serving and per cookie.⁸

1
U.S. Department of Justice. Proposed Class Action Settlement Involving Lenny & Larry’s Cookies Amended to Give Consumers More
2
ClassAction.org. Maker of The Complete Cookie Hit With Suit Over Protein Claims
3
Troutman Pepper. 5 Takeaways From DOJ Objection to Cookie Class Settlement
4
U.S. Department of Justice Statement of Interest. DOJ Statement of Interest, Cowen v. Lenny & Larry’s
5
Top Class Actions. Lenny & Larry’s Will Pay to Settle Complete Cookie Class Action
6
The National Law Journal. After DOJ Objects, Lawyers in Cookie Settlement Find New Recipe for Success
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NOSH. Lenny & Larry’s Settles Lawsuit Over Protein Claims
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Lenny & Larry’s. Got Questions – Lenny & Larry’s FAQ