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A judge determines that a class action lawsuit alleging Evanger’s dog food is poisonous will continue in court.
In January 2017, plaintiffs Nicole and Guy Mael, Nadine Vigliano, Britney Morea, Angela Bertucci, and Tina Wiepert field a class action lawsuit claiming that their dogs got sick after eating Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food Co. beef products, and that the company’s dog food contained pentobarbital, a euthanizing drug.
They claimed that Evanger’s falsely advertised their products as premium, labeling their products as “100% beef,” and “human grade, USDA inspected meat.” According to the Evanger’s dog food class action lawsuit, the products are not premium and “100% beef,” as advertised.
One couple in the Evanger’s poisoned dog food class action lawsuit, the Maels, claim that they fed Evanger’s food to their five dogs for four years. Around New Year’s Eve 2016, they allegedly made a purchase of Evanger’s “Hunk of Beef” and “Pulled Beef” and fed it to their dogs.
Shortly after the dogs ate the food, the Maels say their dogs showed neurological symptoms. According to the Maels, they rushed their dogs to a veterinarian. One of their dogs died the next day, and the other four required ongoing medical care.
The Maels allege that FDA necropsy testing of the deceased dog reveled that the Evanger’s food contained large quantities of pentobarbital.
Roughly a year ago, the FDA found traces of pentobarbital in other beef products made by Evanger’s. This prompted the company to conduct a recall of these products. However, the Evanger’s contaminated dog food class action lawsuit notes that in May of last year, another dog fell ill after eating Evanger’s “Duck and Sweet Potato” food, which was not recalled with the beef products.
Evanger’s made a motion to dismiss the Evanger’s pet food class action lawsuit, claiming that in their case, the Maels and others had not sufficiently linked Evanger’s to the pentobarbital that harmed their dogs. Evanger’s also claims that the case is weakened by the fact that Maels and others are trying to draw one singular conclusion from instances that were included in the recall and ones that weren’t.
The company says that the plaintiffs “paint with too broad a brush, lumping together dogs that got sick from the recalled, tainted beef products with a dog that got sick after eating non-recalled, non-beef products.” The company claims that with this strategy, there are too many variables of the court to make an accurate determination in the case.
This week, a judge stated that the Maels had not sufficiently established that the pentobarbital that caused their dogs to fall ill was found in Evanger’s, saying that the allegedly related cases “suggest a possible relation between defendants’ Duck and Sweet Potato product and the symptoms, the amended complaint pleads no factual allegations plausibly establishing beyond mere speculation causation between the food and the symptoms.”
So, the court agrees with Evanger’s that the class action lawsuit’s case is insufficient, but has given the consumers until March 13 to amend their complaint, instead of dismissing the lawsuit altogether.
The plaintiffs are represented by Jennifer Rust Murray and Beth E. Terrell of Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC and Jessica J. Sleater of Andersen Sleater Sianni LLC.
The Evanger’s Poisoned Dog Food Class Action Lawsuit is Nicole and Guy Mael, et. al. v. Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food Co. Inc., et. al., Case No. 3:17-cv-05469, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
UPDATE: On Oct. 18, 2019, Evanger’s Dog and Cat Food Co. agreed to pay $545,500 to end class action claims that its pet food is dangerous to animals despite being advertised as “human grade.”
UPDATE 2: February 2020, the Evanger’s toxic dog food class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.
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36 thoughts onEvanger’s Must Face Poisonous Dog Food Class Action, Judge Rules
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add me pls
I would like to know what cat products might be included including treats.
No cat products are affected.
Watched “Pet Fooled” on youtube or netflix and quite a few dry foods include rendered byproducts which are dead animals – roadkill, dead farm animals, dead animals from vets offices (they say not euthanized but did the die of natural causes ????). I have stopped buying anything but a holistic that has no rendered byproducts or unpronouncable ingredients to possibly sicken my pets.
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Sorry Kris… I didn’t realize you were self-correcting… I was in your corner. Some people don’t look at the message and just look at the words…
Really Kris? Grammar police? She is obviously still distraught over the loss of seeing her pet like this. Cut her some slack…
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My whippet mix developed neurological symptoms during the night of 7/2/16. I am unable to drive at night due to vision issues and would have been unable to load her in my car anyway due to her condition and the size of her crate. Early on the morning of 7/3/16, a neighbor helped me get her to the emergency vet, where I had her euthanized. She was fine when she went to bed at 10 PM, jumped up on the bed and did not seem restless in bed, but tried to get out of bed at 2 AM, and fell off the bed. She staggered and fell all the way to the back door. I lifted her to the yard, and she staggered and fell in the yard as she tried to get in a position to urinate. I lifted her inside, where in the kitchen she was drooling, shaking and whimpering. I had never heard her whimper and I will never forget the terrified look on her face. She then staggered and fell her crate, where I think she finally felt safe from falling. I sat next to her until morning, petting her and comforting her until I could get her to the ER vet. She also vomited a large amount in the kitchen. At the clinic, she was still very unstable and had thrown up a great deal more in her crate. I am on a fixed income, and I simply did not have the funds for blood work and x-rays, possibly an MRI and/or a lumbar puncture. My precious baby was almost 14 and I held her while she took her last breath. I am almost certain she had potato and duck food shortly before bed. I don’t remember when or where I purchased it. When I got home that morning, I checked the yard and could find absolutely nothing there to account for her symptoms. Seeing her that way was heartbreaking and there was nothing I could do for her until morning. I am disabled and she was my companion. I made the decision to euthanize her based also on the fact that I couldn’t bear it if she had come home and this happened again. She was lucky not to have injured herself that night the way she was all but body slamming to the floor, against furniture and furniture and walls, and in the yard. It had to have been something she ate, but I never will know for sure. It haunts me every day. I hear her whimpering, I see her shaking, I see the terror in her eyes.
fell her crate–fell into her crate. all but body slamming to the floor, against furniture and furniture–against furniture and walls.
Forgot to add that her teeth were clattering while she was standing in the kitchen, trembling. Her eyes also seemed a little glazed. She was aware of what was going on around her and was moving with intent, albeit staggering. It did not seem like a seizure. She knew something was very wrong. It was so like my independent little girl to stagger and fall to the back yard to go potty, then to stagger and fall to her crate for safety. She also tried to lap water before she headed for her crate.
so sorry that’ so messed up