Pet owners are not likely to get much compensation if they individually sue pet food-maker Menu Foods over the death of a dog or cat, although they might fare better if they joined in a class action suit, experts say.
Most state laws consider pets to be personal property, according to Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond. “With animals, all you get is the value of the property,” he said. “There are no emotional damages.”
In early March, Menu Foods recalled 60 million containers of its wet pet foods, sold under nearly 100 brands, after cats died during company taste tests. It is not clear how many pets may have been poisoned, although anecdotal reports suggest hundreds if not thousands have died.
In Connecticut, attorney Bruce Newman has filed a class-action lawsuit against Menu Foods on behalf of Lauri Osborne of Plymouth seeking unspecified damages.
Menu Foods has offered to pay veterinary bills but has admitted no wrongdoing.
Jack Hall, a product liability lawyer from Pittsburgh, said the owner of a pet used for breeding or of a specially trained animal could argue for higher compensation. Hall said pet owners would fare better if they joined in a class action suit. Still, Tobias said even a class-action suit could be tricky. “The factual variations in the cases will make it very difficult to form a class action,” he said.
Topics Lawsuits
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