Dynamic Pet Products Class Action Says ‘Real Ham Bone’ Causes Severe Injuries

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A class action lawsuit has been filed against Dynamic Pet Products, as well as Frick’s Meat Products, over allegations that their “Real Ham Bone for Dogs” causes illness and injury after the bones splinter and slice through dogs’ digestive systems.

Lead plaintiff Stephanie Brown claims in her class action lawsuit that, in an effort to profit from the waste of meat manufacturers, Dynamic and Frick’s sell an 8” hickory-smoked pig femur as the Real Ham Bone for Dogs.

However, when the product is chewed by dogs, it is prone to splintering into shards, Brown says. The lawsuit alleges that these shards then enter the dogs’ digestive tract and can cause “a terrible array of illnesses, including stomach, intestinal, and rectal bleeding, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, and seizures.”

Brown says she purchased the Real Ham Bone for her dogs as a Christmas present in 2014. After giving the bones to her pets, the plaintiff says she noticed that they were starting to splinter, so she took them away. However, the dogs started vomiting blood as well as bone shards. The plaintiff alleges that she rushed them to the veterinarian and both dogs were fortunate to survive.

According to the class action, thousands of dogs have “died gruesome, bloody deaths as a result of chewing Defendants’ Real Ham Bone For Dogs.”

The plaintiff alleges that Dynamic and Frick’s have been aware that the Real Ham Bone can cause injury to dogs, but has “casually ignored” customer complaints over the past nine years. According to the lawsuit, in 2010 the federal Food and Drug Administration found that bones such as the Real Ham Bone were unsafe and could cause injury to dogs. Additionally, in that year the Missouri Better Business Bureau alerted the companies to an increasing number of complaints about the Real Ham Bone.

“Despite knowing that the Real Ham Bone For Dogs is dangerous and not appropriate for dogs, Defendants expressly and impliedly represented and continue to represent on the product label and on Dynamic’s website and other marketing that the Real Ham Bone For Dogs is ‘safe for your pet’ and is ‘meant to be chewed,’” the class action lawsuit states.

Dynamic and Frick’s violated the Missouri Merchandising Act by allegedly falsely advertising the Real Ham Bone as meant for dogs, says the plaintiff. Additionally, the plaintiff is bringing claims of fraud and negligent misrepresentation against Dynamic Pet Products and Frick’s Meat Products.

The plaintiff seeks to represent “All persons who purchased one or more Real Ham Bone For Dogs other than for purpose of resale.” The plaintiff is seeking monetary damages, including punitive damages, as well as restitution, disgorgement of revenues and attorneys’ fees and costs.

Dynamic and Frick’s were hit with another class action over the Real Ham Bone for Dogs in May of 2015. That class action, also filed in federal court in California, was recently trimmed, but allowed to continue.

Brown is represented by Timothy G. Blood, Leslie E. Hurst and Thomas J. O’Reardon II of Blood Hurst & O’Reardon LLP.

The Dynamic Dog Bone Class Action Lawsuit is Stephanie Brown v. Dynamic Pet Products and Frick’s Meat Products Inc., Case No. 3:17-cv-00659-JAH-BLM, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.