MIDWAY, Utah, Aug. 17 (Our Utah Times) — Rebel Creamery LLC, a Utah-based maker of ice cream sold through grocery stores nationwide, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while appealing a $23.785 million judgment awarded to rival Van Leeuwen Ice Cream.
Rebel filed Aug. 14, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Utah. Its bankruptcy schedules list about $13.78 million in assets and $23.85 million in liabilities, leaving the company with reported liabilities well above its listed assets.
The filing places the company’s finances, its dispute with Van Leeuwen and the future of its business under court supervision. The records do not establish that the judgment was the only reason Rebel sought bankruptcy protection.
What does Rebel owe?
Rebel’s schedules list Van Leeuwen as an unsecured creditor with a $23.785 million claim. The claim comes from a federal court judgment tied to the appearance of Rebel’s ice cream packaging.
Rebel marked the claim as “disputed” in its bankruptcy schedules and said the judgment is under appeal. The company filed its appeal Aug. 12, two days before entering Chapter 11.
An unsecured creditor generally does not have specific collateral securing its claim. In a bankruptcy case, unsecured creditors are paid according to the priority and available funds established under federal bankruptcy law and the court-approved process.
Rebel’s voluntary petition estimated both its assets and liabilities at between $10 million and $50 million. The filing also said funds would be available for distribution to unsecured creditors.
What led to the judgment?
Van Leeuwen sued Rebel in 2021, alleging that Rebel copied the look of Van Leeuwen’s ice cream pint packaging. The dispute centered on trade dress, a legal term for the distinctive visual design or appearance associated with a product or business.
On July 16, 2026, U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee ruled that Rebel intentionally infringed and diluted Van Leeuwen’s trade dress. In his ruling, Komitee wrote:
“The evidence at trial left no doubt that Rebel infringed and diluted Van Leeuwen’s trade dress and did so intentionally.”
The court awarded Van Leeuwen $23.785 million, described in the court-related records as Rebel’s profits from products sold with the allegedly infringing packaging. The court also ordered Rebel to stop selling products in that packaging and redesign it.
Rebel’s appeal challenges the ruling, but the available records do not show the appeal’s current status or whether the judgment has been stayed or secured.
What does Rebel have?
Rebel’s schedules list about $5.22 million in cash and cash equivalents, $2.59 million in accounts receivable and $5.65 million in inventory. These figures are reported values in the bankruptcy schedules, not an independent appraisal of the company’s assets.
The schedules do not provide the company’s revenue, earnings, audited financial statements or the number of people it employs. They also do not show whether Rebel has continued normal operations after filing for bankruptcy.
What happens next?
Chapter 11 is a court-supervised bankruptcy process that generally gives a business an opportunity to reorganize its finances while addressing claims from creditors. Rebel’s case will determine how its assets, liabilities and ongoing business obligations are handled.
Van Leeuwen’s claim is expected to be a central issue because it accounts for most of Rebel’s reported liabilities. But the bankruptcy records summarized in the filing do not identify every creditor or establish how much Rebel ultimately owes to other unsecured creditors.
The records also do not identify specific effects on Rebel’s workers, suppliers, grocery customers or communities. A bankruptcy filing alone does not show whether particular stores will stop carrying Rebel products, whether employees will lose their jobs or whether suppliers will go unpaid.
For customers, the immediate issue is uncertainty about the company’s future products and packaging. For Van Leeuwen, the bankruptcy adds a separate court process to its effort to collect or preserve the value of the judgment while Rebel pursues its appeal. The bankruptcy court will oversee the financial case, while the federal appellate process will address the underlying trade-dress ruling.
