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An appeals court found a hitch in the $24 million class action lawsuit settlement over the largest pet food recall in history, resulting in the settlement being rejected last week.
We first told you about the pet food class action lawsuit settlement two years ago when dozens of pet food retailers and vendors reached a $24 million class action lawsuit settlement in 2008 to resolve claims that they manufactured, distributed or sold contaminated pet food products to thousands of consumers.
More than 60 million packages of contaminated pet food products were recalled in March 2007, but pets still suffered illness or death after accidentally consuming the recalled pet food products. Class members in the United States and Canada were eligible to claim up to a 100% cash payment for all documented, reasonable economic damages incurred as a result of their purchase or their pets’ consumption of the recalled pet food products. These damages included veterinary treatment costs, death-related expenses, new pet cost, and other economic costs.
The federal appeals court took issue with the pet food settlement’s $250,000 cap on class members’ claims for reimbursement of what they paid for the recalled pet food, agreeing with objectors that the amount was inadequate and rendered the pet food settlement unfair and unreasonable.
“Objectors pointed out that no sales information for the recalled food had been presented to the court and that there was no information in the record that would allow the court to evaluate whether $250,000 was a reasonable settlement for the purchase claims…the settling parties should have provided the court with more detailed information about why they settled on the $250,000 cap,” the ruling states.
The court has ordered the settling parties to either produce relevant information, or explain why it cannot produce detailed information about why it settled on the cap.
Updated December 21st, 2010
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