A Brevard County jury awarded more than $14 million to a West Melbourne woman who suffered serious injuries after eating ice cream contaminated with nails and metal fragments at a Palm Bay Bruster’s Ice Cream shop in 2018. Brandy Buckley received the judgment on March 24 following an eight-year legal battle against Malabar Creameries doing business as Bruster’s Ice Cream and the national franchisor. The jury found both the local franchise and national company liable for damages totaling $14,147,5245.39, according to her attorney Scott Alpizar.
“I got to the light to scoop some of the ice cream out,” Buckley said. “I noticed there was a metal nail in like in the cone, almost embedded, it looked like in the cone.” Buckley had purchased butter pecan ice cream from the Bruster’s location on Malabar Road in Palm Bay and was sharing it with her son when she discovered the contamination. She had already taken a large bite of the ice cream before noticing the embedded nail.
“When I did swallow, I did feel something in my throat that kind of got stuck,” Buckley said. “I thought it was a pecan because it was a butter pecan ice cream that I had purchased.” Concerned about what she had swallowed, Buckley went to a hospital for an X-ray to determine what was lodged in her throat. The medical examination revealed she had swallowed a nail along with multiple metal fragments.
“Just to be clear, to make sure that’s what it was, a pecan, and it wasn’t,” Buckley said. “It was a nail. So I had swallowed a nail.” Doctors performed emergency surgery to remove one nail and multiple pieces of metal from her body. The medical complications extended far beyond the initial surgery, with Buckley developing portal vein thrombosis and experiencing significant internal bleeding that required additional procedures.
The most devastating consequence came when Buckley developed a blood clot that led to an ablation procedure, resulting in permanent infertility. “I developed a blood clot. I developed a blood clot. After that, that led me into an ablation to where I couldn’t have any more children,” Buckley said. This outcome was particularly heartbreaking for Buckley, who had lost a daughter in 2011 and desperately wanted to have more children.
“That was my goal, and my dream was to have more kids,” Buckley said. The inability to have children became a central element of her pain and suffering claim in the lawsuit filed in 2019. Alpizar filed the negligence lawsuit against both the local Palm Bay franchise and the national Bruster’s organization, seeking damages for medical expenses and the life-altering consequences of the contaminated ice cream.
In their 2020 legal response, attorneys for Malabar Creameries denied many of the claims made against their clients. The defense accused Buckley of negligence that caused or contributed to the incident and argued that any product allegedly sold and consumed by Buckley “was not defective.” The legal battle stretched across multiple years as both sides prepared their cases for trial.
“It took us eight years to get where we are today,” Buckley said about the lengthy legal process that finally concluded this month. The March 24 jury verdict shocked Buckley, who described her emotional reaction to learning about the $14 million award. “It was shocking. I started bawling,” Buckley said upon hearing the jury’s decision in Brevard County court.
Alpizar expects Malabar Creameries to appeal the $14 million judgment, which could delay Buckley’s receipt of any compensation for years. The appeal process typically involves reviewing the trial court’s legal decisions and the jury’s damage award to determine if any errors occurred during the proceedings. If the defendants pursue an appeal, the case could remain in litigation for several more years before reaching a final resolution.