Monday, May 26, 2008
$24 Million Pet-Food Settlement
Article in the L.A. Times -- Pet food companies OK $24-million settlement, by the Associated Press. Here's an excerpt:
Companies that were sued over contaminated pet food linked to the deaths of perhaps thousands of dogs and cats have agreed to pay $24 million to pet owners in the United States and Canada.
The settlement is detailed in papers filed late Thursday in U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J. It still needs a judge's approval; a court hearing is set for May 30.
"The settlement attempts to reimburse pet owners for all of their economic damages," said Russell Paul, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
AmLaw Daily provides more detail in its post, Massive Pet Food Recall Lawsuit Settles, by Andrew Longstreth. Here's a link to the joint motion filed for certification and approval of the class settlement.
BGS
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/mass_tort_litigation/2008/05/24-million-pet.html
Comments
There are 3 Categories of victims here:
1. Pets that ate the food and died.
2. Pets that ate the food, became vey sick but survived.
3. Pets who may or may not have eaten the food, were tested and found to be okay.
This settlement only adequately compensates Category 3 victims though the amount of money the pet food companies are allowing for these victims is suspicsiously low. There is no meaningful compensation for pets who were killed and there is no compensation for continuing vet expenses for pets still under treatment.
Why are the pet food companies dictating their own punishment? Do we let criminals determine their own sentences? This entire mediated settlement stinks of manipulation by the pet food companies. Pet owners who were victims of the poisoned pet food are now victims again.
Posted by: DCS | Jun 7, 2008 11:22:27 AM
It is very upsetting about what is happening with the dog food today. People are scared to feed there dogs! My suggestion would be to go into a mom and pops store because they seem to be knowing what there talking about rather then a big chain where they have a bunch of kids trainined to only make a sale.
Posted by: Onlinepetdepot | Jun 8, 2008 8:42:45 AM
Wonderful articles. I enjoyed reading them . They are insightful and informative. I will return to read more. keep up the good work
Posted by: Ed Reed | May 27, 2008 9:51:39 AM