Spring Break
Proposed settlement reached in tainted pet food suits
Apr. 2, 2008
Emilie Lounsberry - The Philadelphia InquirerIssue date: 3/27/08 Section: MCT News
CAMDEN, N.J. _ A year after tainted pet food led to the deaths of thousands of dogs and cats nationwide, a proposed settlement was announced Tuesday that would resolve more than 100 class-action lawsuits filed by grief-stricken pet owners in the United States and Canada.
Details of the "agreement in principle" were not disclosed during the hearing in U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J. The tentative settlement followed months of negotiations between lawyers for companies that manufactured or distributed the poisonous chow and lawyers for pet owners, who had sought compensation for out-of-pocket costs including veterinarian and medicine bills and burial fees.
"Good news, your honor," lawyer Sherrie R. Savett, representing pet owners, told U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman, who is handling the nationwide consolidation of pet-food lawsuits. "The parties have come to an agreement in principle on all the major terms."
The lawsuits were filed in the wake of massive recalls of dog and cat food last spring. While owners watched helplessly as their pets got sick and, in numerous cases, died, more than 120 varieties were pulled off the market.
The primary target was Menu Foods Inc., the Canada-based manufacturer of about 100 of the tainted product lines. But other companies that manufactured or distributed the food also are defendants.
Amy W. Schulman, a lawyer for Menu Foods, said the planned settlement would resolve litigation in Canada as well as the United States. "It's truly a proposed global resolution," she told Hillman.
The pet-food scare led to criminal charges in February against two Chinese companies, a Las Vegas business, and their officers in an alleged scheme to make and import tainted wheat gluten, an ingredient in many pet-food products.
The civil litigation, meanwhile, focused attention on the long-standing legal view of animals as property, with a fair market value but no intrinsic worth as de facto family members.
Details of the "agreement in principle" were not disclosed during the hearing in U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J. The tentative settlement followed months of negotiations between lawyers for companies that manufactured or distributed the poisonous chow and lawyers for pet owners, who had sought compensation for out-of-pocket costs including veterinarian and medicine bills and burial fees.
"Good news, your honor," lawyer Sherrie R. Savett, representing pet owners, told U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman, who is handling the nationwide consolidation of pet-food lawsuits. "The parties have come to an agreement in principle on all the major terms."
The lawsuits were filed in the wake of massive recalls of dog and cat food last spring. While owners watched helplessly as their pets got sick and, in numerous cases, died, more than 120 varieties were pulled off the market.
The primary target was Menu Foods Inc., the Canada-based manufacturer of about 100 of the tainted product lines. But other companies that manufactured or distributed the food also are defendants.
Amy W. Schulman, a lawyer for Menu Foods, said the planned settlement would resolve litigation in Canada as well as the United States. "It's truly a proposed global resolution," she told Hillman.
The pet-food scare led to criminal charges in February against two Chinese companies, a Las Vegas business, and their officers in an alleged scheme to make and import tainted wheat gluten, an ingredient in many pet-food products.
The civil litigation, meanwhile, focused attention on the long-standing legal view of animals as property, with a fair market value but no intrinsic worth as de facto family members.
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