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Petland has been defrauding customers by charging premium prices for pets that are falsely certified as being healthy, according to a Georgia pet owner.
Plaintiff Rosalba Cisneros filed this Petland class action lawsuit with the assistance of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. She alleges that defendant and global pet store chain Petland deceptively warrants its pets as being “healthy,” “fit for sale,” or “vet checked at least twice.”
“In reality, Petland does little to ascertain the health of these animals, many of whom are knowingly sourced from inhumane ‘puppy mills’ and arrive at Petland with infectious diseases or other health issues that are never diagnosed by Petland inspections,” Cisneros alleges.
She claims Petland colludes with defendant PAWsitive Solutions Inc. to further its fraudulent practices. Petland contracts with PAWsitive to provide customer services for pet owners seeking to make a warranty claim when their pet becomes ill.
The alleged collusion supposedly extends to Petland’s “preferred veterinarians,” those who are responsible for providing Petland-arranged veterinary treatment.
Cisneros says that in December 2015, she paid $2,400 to a Petland franchise store in Kennesaw, Ga. to purchase a Shih Tzu puppy named Giant. The purchase price included a certification that Giant was healthy and fit for sale, and it also covered animal care services through the PAWSitive program and Petland’s preferred veterinarians.
According to Cisneros, Giant became seriously ill as soon as she brought him home. She brought Giant to Petland’s preferred veterinarian for treatment and was given a course of antibiotics.
But the next evening, Cisneros says, Giant’s condition was so poor that she took him to an emergency veterinarian for treatment, to the tune of a nearly $1,000 bill.
The emergency vet diagnosed Giant with parovirus, a disease that Giant’s Petland certification of health specifically guaranteed he did not have. When Cisneros raised the issue with Petland, the store instructed her to bring Giant to their preferred veterinarian if she wanted to seek reimbursement under the store’s warranty.
Cisneros did as Petland instructed her. The veterinarian gave Giant no treatment, she alleges, and the puppy died within a few days.
A representative of PAWsitive called Cisneros. Instead of telling her about Giant’s death, the representative allegedly told her that Giant was recovering and would be released the following week.
Cisneros says she did not learn of Giant’s death until several days later, when she received a report from the Georgia Department of Agriculture. Only after police intervention did the veterinarian’s staff finally admit to Giant’s death and surrender his body to Cisneros’ daughter.
Based on these allegations of fraud and collusion, Cisneros’ Petland class action lawsuit raises claims under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.
Cisneros proposes to represent a plaintiff Class consisting of “[a]ll persons who purchased a cat or dog from Petland anywhere in the United States from July 2013 to the present.”
She seeks a court order barring the defendants from continuing to allegedly misrepresent its pets’ health and the value of the certifications and warranties that accompany the sale. She also seeks a damage award including treble and punitive damages, restitution and disgorgement of profits, and reimbursement of court costs and attorneys’ fees.
Plaintiff’s counsel includes attorneys Michael I. Fistel Jr., William W. Stone and David Weisz of Johnson & Weaver LLP, Tamara Y. Feliciano of Tamara Feliciano and Associates, Jessica J. Sleater of Andersen Sleater Sianni LLC, and Kelsey Rinehart Eberly and Anthony T. Eliseuson of Animal Legal Defense Fund.
The Petland Fraudulent Health Certification Class Action Lawsuit is Rosalba Cisneros v. Petland Inc., et al., Case No. 1:17-cv-02828, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
UPDATE: On April 17, 2018, a class action alleging that Petland Inc. and PAWSitive Solutions Inc. conspired to sell pets that were not as healthy as advertised was dismissed from federal court.
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22 thoughts onPetland Class Action Says Puppies Prone to Illness
Got a American English bulldog 4000 plus dollars. Omg so many vet bills i signed up yrs ago when they without of bussiness overnight in Piqua ohio 45364
I also had a experience with Petland regarding the Campobacterial that the CDC is investigate. This bacterial also will make humans sick. As I had recently visited one of their locations and became ill not really aware of what was happening to me and my dog, I’m thinking Parvo,etc.. only after several thousand in vet bills he was diagnosed with a bacteria. According to Petlands Perferred Vet all dogs carry some sort of bacteria and because my dogs test results did not “specify ” campobacterial it just specficed he had a lot of bacteria that caused all the intestinal problems they can not and will not reimburse me. I didn’t walk into the vet asking him to pin point a specific bacteria in my dog, we only became ill after visiting a Petland store
Make sure to report that to the CDC and your local health department if you haven’t already.
I bought a Petland puppy not knowing about the dangers of puppy mills and they blatantly edited the medical paperwork saying that my puppy was fine.
Fortunately my dog is fine now, but they edited out that the vet diagnosed my dog with a respiratory infection and luxating patella. Hell, they gave me a free first check-up to the same vet that diagnosed these problems! Fortunately, he said that the luxating patella would heal as long as my dog was active and we avoided making her overweight, and recent vets have reported no LP.
I feel for pet owners who bought sick pets that died, and I’m willing to give the contact info of their preferred vet if he still has records, since I don’t know if I have them myself. I’ve since moved back to my home state and I can’t recall if I gave the previous vet’s info to our current and recent vets.
This serves as a great reminder to “ADOPT, don’t SHOP”…. thousands of dogs a day are put to sleep while waiting for homes in shelters, many of them purebred….if people would stop BUYING from places like Petland, they would realize that it’s not worth it to sell these mill pups…with no markets for sales, it might help in shutting down some of these places of horror. So sorry about everyone’s terrible time.
I bought a Bichon in 2006 very sick kennel cough cost me thousands, but peatland in Fairfax Virginia could have cared less. This Class action should go back from the time they opened their doors
I had a bad experience with Petland in Rockford, IL about 25 years ago…… my Old English Sheepdog was 95% deaf and had the genetics for hip dysplasia; (we found all this out when we took him to the Vet Clinic of UW-Madison in WI). The puppy was a gift to me; I KNEW not to purchase puppies through their puppy mill operations…. sadly the gift giver had asked Petland if this was indeed a Puppy Mill Puppy and of course was told no. When I threatened legal action, I was given the breeder’s name and number and by that time they no longer had the parents….. (I’m guessing because they found out the defects that were showing up.) We did get our money back from the purchase and we kept Sebastian and trained him with hand signals. However, he did develop hip dysplasia and had to be euthanized because he could no longer stand on his own…… Like Marissa, I too wish that the lawsuit went farther back; Petland has been doing this sort of thing consistently for a very long time.
I purchased my puppy from them in 2009. I was told that she was checked over twice and nothing was wrong. We took her to the approved vet (required within 3 days of bringing her home for petal day to pay for it). She had several infections. Absolutely ridiculous. Luckily they paid for everything and she is a happy 8 year old pup now.
I would never purchase a pup through this place ever again. They need to be shut down!
I purchased a puppy about 2 years ago from Petland before learning about puppy mills and Petlands reputation. I can’t wait to see what comes of this. These stores need to be shut down!
I agree i bought 2 dogs from them neber received akc papers from 1st one and she had kennel cough 2nd also has been sickly they do need to be shut done permanently
I experienced the same thing with the two chihuahuas I bought in 2007! I’m upset cause this only covers 2013-present
Legally you have a statue of limitations which you have surpassed. But continue to educate others on your experience.
I believe this is 100% true, I hope the courts do take this case and if they could go back further to include previous years I have a ton of documentation.