LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - The Ben & Jerry's

Foundation, a non-profit funded by the ice cream brand, said on

Monday it had won a court ruling to join a lawsuit challenging

its ultimate parent company, The Magnum Ice Cream Company

, over contractual obligations and independence.

Unilever ( UL ) retains a 19.9% stake in Magnum, which formed

when the consumer goods conglomerate spun off its ice cream unit

in December.

Directors from the independent board of Ben & Jerry's ( UL ), now

owned by Magnum, have challenged the company's plans to appoint

new directors and accused it of corporate overreach.

Since 2024, Vermont-based Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) and its independent

board have fought Unilever ( UL ), and now Magnum, in a U.S. District

Court in New York over what they say are efforts to undermine

the brand's social mission and the board's autonomy.

* The foundation said it decided to join the lawsuit after

Magnum stopped providing it with funding and described the

court's ruling as an important step in ensuring the foundation

can defend its independence.

* "This is about more than a contract, it's about whether a

corporation can weaponise a governance structure and withhold

funding when prior commitments and values become inconvenient,"

President of the Ben & Jerry's Foundation Board of Trustees Liz

Bankowski said in a statement.

* Magnum said it was fully committed to Ben & Jerry's ( UL ),

including continuing to fund the foundation.

* "The recent steps to update Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) corporate

governance are wholly aligned with the merger agreement and

standard corporate governance across the organisation; nothing

more than that," Magnum said in a statement. "Suggesting our

actions are anything more is just not true; they are not and

never have been."

* The Ben & Jerry's Foundation, set up in 1985, uses

contributions from Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) to make donations to other

non-profit organisations focused on issues ranging from racial

equity to environmental protection.