MADISON - ST. CLAIR RECORD

A flavor company has filed suit against two corporations, alleging that pieces of lids it bought flaked off into its ice cream flavoring products.

SensoryEffects Flavor Company alleges it acquired certain Givaudan assets and rights, according to the complaint filed Jan. 8 in Madison County Circuit Court.

Before Sensory bought Givaudan, Letica entered into an agreement with Givaudan to sell containers with lids for the storage of ice cream flavoring products in early 2008, the suit states.

Givaudan relied on a Mid-States Agreement that warranted the containers and lids would be suitable for the purpose of storing ice cream flavoring products, Sensory claims.

"The containers and lids that were manufactured and sold by Letica and then delivered to Givaudan and Sensory pursuant to the Letica Agreement were defective and were not of the quality agreed and warranted by Letica, in that particles from the containers and lids could and did flake off into the containers and materials stored in them," the suit states.

Because of the defects, the ice cream flavoring products were contaminated at the time they were delivered to Sensory's customer, who then rejected the company's flavoring products, Sensory claims.

The company has incurred costs in replacing the defective product, has incurred a liability to its customer for the return of the product and has incurred storage costs associated with preserving plastic containers and lids as delivered, according to the complaint.

Because Letica manufactured, sold and delivered defective containers and lids, it breached its implied warranty of merchantability, the suit states.

"At the time they were manufactured, sold and delivered by Letica, the defective containers and lids were unfit for that purpose for which they were to be used," the suit states.

Mid-States also breached its implied warranty of merchantability by selling and delivering the defective containers, Sensory alleges.

In the six-count suit, Sensory is seeking damages of not less than $1.7 million, plus costs and other relief the court deems just.

David S. Corwin and Casey C. Cira of Devereux Murphy in St. Louis will be representing Sensory.

Madison County Circuit Court case number: 09-L-0016.