Third Circuit Court Of Appeals Issues Decision On Pet Food Class Action Settlement Of Contaminated Pet Food Class Action Lawsuit.
An appeal of a class action settlement in a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of consumers in the United States and Canada who purchased, used or obtained, or whose pets consumed, wet pet food that was allegedly contaminated with melamine and cyanuric acid (the combination of which which can lead to acute renal failure in small animals if ingested) alleging violations of state consumer protection and deceptive trade practices statutes, as well as state law claims for product liability, breach of warranty, and negligence, has been decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, according to Pet Food class action settlement news reports.
The proposed Pet Food settlement agreement reached by the parties provided for, among other things, a $24 million cash fund. The Pet Food settlement class included “all persons and entities who purchased, used or obtained, or whose pets used or consumed Recalled Pet Foods Product(s).” “Recalled Pet Foods Products” was defined as any pet food product that was recalled on or after March 16, 2007, “because of allegedly contaminated wheat gluten and/or rice protein concentrate.”
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals reportedly held that the class certification requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a) and (b) were satisfied with respect to the Pet Food settlement class and that the District Court’s analysis of whether the $24 million Pet Food settlement was fair, reasonable, and adequate under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e) was proper in all respects except with respect to a $250,000 cap on purchase claims (i.e., claims solely for reimbursement of the costs associated with the purchase of a Recalled Pet Food Product by a Settlement Class Member who has not been reimbursed for such costs to date, including through return or exchange of the Recalled Pet Food Products) which the appeals court held that the district court “lacked the information necessary to determine whether the $250,000 allocated to Purchase Claims was fair, reasonable, and adequate.” The Third Circuit then vacated the approval of the settlement and remanded for further Rule 23(e) proceedings on the allocation for Purchase Claims.
Pet food class action settlement defendants reportedly included the following companies and persons or entities that may have handled, distributed, purchased for resale and/or redistribution, supplied, manufactured and/or sold or offered for sale pet food and/or pet treats that may have contained contaminated wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate and were recalled beginning in March 2007, as well as certain companies, persons or entities that may have supplied that wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate (“Recalled Pet Food Products”):
144632 Ontario Ltd.
1446431 Ontario Ltd.
3036241 Nova Scotia Company
Alexander R. Aird
Canada Safeway Limited
ChemNutra Inc.
ChemNutra LLC
Colgate-Palmolive Company
Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd.
Costco Wholesale Corporation
Del Monte Foods, Co.
Eric A. Demirian
Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc.
Jace Holdings Ltd.
Kroger Co.
Kroger Supermarkets, Inc.
Loblaw Companies Limited
Loblaws Inc.
Mars, Incorporated
Menu Foods Acquisition Inc.
Menu Foods Corporation
Menu Foods GenPar Limited
Menu Foods Holdings, Inc.
Menu Foods Income Fund
Menu Foods Investments Ltd.
Menu Foods Limited
Menu Foods Limited Partnership
Menu Foods Midwest Corporation
Menu Foods Operating Limited Partnership
Menu Foods Operating Trust
Menu Foods South Dakota, Inc.
Menu Foods, Inc.
Nestlé Purina PetCare Company
Nestlé USA, Inc.
Nutro Products, Inc.
Overwaitea Food & Drugs Ltd.
Overwaitea Food Group Ltd.
Overwaitea Foods Limited
Pet Valu Canada Inc.
Pet Valu, Inc.
PETCO Animal Supplies Stores, Inc.
PETCO Animal Supplies, Inc.
PetSmart, Inc.
Retex Management Associates Limited
Robert W. Luba
Royal Canin Canada Company
Royal Canin, U.S.A., Inc.
Safeway Holdings (Alberta) Ltd.
Serge K. Darkazanli
Sobeys Inc.
Sunshine Mills, Inc.
Target Corporation
The Iams Company
The Procter & Gamble Company
Thomas A. Di Giacomo
Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
Wal-Mart Stores
Wilbur-Ellis Company
For more information on the Pet Food class action settlement, read the Third Circuit’s opinion or visit the Pet Food Products Liability Settlement website:
www.petfoodsettlement.com
If You Have Thoughts On The Pet Food Contamination Recall Class Action Lawsuit Settlement, Share Your Class Action Settlement Comments Below.
Management devalued the company 40 percent in 6 years!? Where was the original team? The team that built the company and made it grow. Why did they all leave before this happened?
I don’t think we will ever be re-imbursed . My baby Chihuahua died after 6 days in the vet hospital and many thousands of dollar .It was awful watching her suffer at home befor the Vet hospitalized her m Its being put off so all us older folks will die or forget … NEVER <EVER
Our pets survived with damage. Each requires multiple Vet visits now as well as extensive home care. Our proof consisted of over a half inch of papers, receipts,etc….
The tragedy and suffering continues and in some cases is worse by the failure to settle this case now.
I think this compay should be shut down. How dare they do something so this and drag this out just another way to add insult to injury. My missy survived but has lots of problems she is affraid of people now where she was a loving and happy cat. Just very sad that a company can do this and get away with it. And also very sad that a judge would allow this to happen. They will one day have to pay for what they did and as we still suffer throught this they continue to get richer and richer God help them all what a sorry company and sorry people. How do you look in the mirror every day knowing what you did.I pray for all the ones who lost there pets and for the ones who still are watching there pets suffer. God bless you all
Regarding the class action suit: Our two cats died as a result of the pet food they were fed. We had been waiting for over 4 years now and have been denied our refund. Our family is very distressed about this and will take serious consideration about whom we will be taking our complaints to.