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A class action lawsuit against Nestle Purina PetCare Co. claiming Beneful dog food killed or sickened thousands of pet has been dismissed.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen granted summary judgment to Purina Thursday, rejecting testimony from the plaintiffs’ expert that suggested Beneful dog food was the direct cause of their dogs’ illnesses or deaths.
Lead plaintiff Frank Lucido filed the class action lawsuit against Purina in February 2015, claiming the company failed to adequately test its dog food or disclose the presence of toxins in Beneful dog food.
Purina moved to dismiss the case in April 2015, calling it a “lawsuit-by-social-media.” However, the plaintiffs countered and moved for certification of 15 Classes and 15 subclasses in July 2015.
The Beneful dog food class action lawsuit mostly centered on whether the ingredients in the Beneful dog food were toxic. The plaintiffs’ expert, Dr. John Tegzes, an animal toxicologist, analyzed a limited sampling 28 of 1,400 Beneful dog food provided by pet owners who dogs got sick after consuming Beneful dog food.
Dr. Tegzes analysis allegedly revealed that three types of toxins: propylene glycol; mycotoxins, a fungal mold on grain; and the heavy metals arsenic and lead were present in the dog food that could pose a “significant health risk” to dogs.
While these toxin levels did not exceed the amount allowed by the FDA, Dr. Tegzes stated that the FDA did not take into consideration long-term exposure to the toxins in Beneful dog food.
But Judge Chen rejected Dr. Tegzes’ conclusion, ruling that the sampling study lacked specific data to support the findings: the exact level of mycotoxins in the dog food and what specific level of mycotoxins actually poses a safety risk. Additionally, the judge noted that the expert failed to examine the affected dog’s veterinary record and other health factors.
“Dr. Tegzes’s opinion is not reliable because the scientific literature he invokes is either too speculative or too imprecise. Simply put, Dr. Tegzes cites no epidemiological evidence that long-term exposure to mycotoxins at levels below the limits set by the FDA leads to serious health risks for dogs,” Judge Chen stated.
Further, the judge shut down the expert’s testimony that Purina failed to properly test its Beneful dog food, ruling that Dr. Tegzes had no specialized knowledge of the pet food manufacturing process, testing or quality control procedures.
Judge Chen also refused to permit Dr. Tegzes and another expert, veterinarian Dr. Jena Questen, to give testimony about the importance of dog food safety and testing for consumers, finding that neither witness was qualified to testify on “consumer preferences.”
Chen said the plaintiffs’ case ultimately relied on Tegzes’ opinions, and dismissed the case on grounds that “because the court finds Dr. Tegzes’ opinions unreliable, plaintiffs’ case has no evidentiary support.”
Judge Chen denied plaintiffs’ request to submit additional evidence.
The consumers are represented by Ram Olson Cereghino & Kopczynski, Morgan & Morgan Complex Litigation Group, Kimbrell & Solen LLC, Terrell Marshall Law Group PLLC, Pastor Law Office LLP, Leonard Law Office PC, Finkelstein Blankinship Frei-Pearson & Garber LLP, Consumer Law Group, Lackey Hershman LLP, Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP Gilman Law LLP, Cuneo Gilbert & Laduca LLP, the Animal Law Center, the Richman Law Group, Edelman Combs Latturner & Goodwin LLC and the Law Offices of S. Chandler Visher.
The Beneful Dog Food Class Action Lawsuit is Frank Lucido, et al. v. Nestle Purina PetCare Co., Case No. 3:15-cv-00569, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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50 thoughts onPurina Defeats Toxic Beneful Dog Food Class Action Lawsuit
Rex was one of the biggest part of mine, and many others’ lives over the past 10 years. He was an absolutely beautiful reddish-brown boxer-pit mix. He died during his second bout of liver failure, I blamed my vet and was suspicious of everyone else, now I know
I will never trust or use a Purina Dog food ever again. Our Dog Lilly almost died from eating this food. After $$$ spent at the vet(long story) and blood transfusion we finally got her stabilized and now I have to feed her a $$ RX food for the rest of her life. She cannot have anything other than this special food and treats. It makes me so sad that the Purina company cannot be held liable for all the damage they have done. I tell people all the time to NOT use there products my trust in Purina is lost forever. We had another Dog Earl that was wonderful and healthy until one day out of the blue and he died. Now after this experience with Lilly and connecting it to the food and cannot help but wonder if it was the food that caused his death. He was wonderful dog and to think it could have been the food I choose to give him just breaks my heart.
Now with Trump and his criminals in charge, class action suits will be so difficult to carry out. Anything for big business and screw the little guy. They make me sick.
I have feeding my dog Beneful for years but I just opened a new bag and he has been getting sick for several days now. This has happened before and I threw the bag away. I will not be buying this again. I am hearing too many bad things about this food and my dog is now sick and I truly believe it is from the food.
Reading all this I’m not feeding my dogs beneful dog food again, I’ve been feeding them this for over 5 months they hardly eat it and the only time they do when there’s no table food, lately they haven’t been active, taking them to the vet on Monday, appreciate all the comments and signs to look for, truly sorry for your pets they r our baby and family, we do our best to keep them healthy and company’s we trust r killing our babies, my condolences to all who have lost there pets.
I have been using this stuff for the past yr. OMG!! Did i hurt my dog?
We bought Beneful for our 3 dogs for years… but sometime last year they were throwing up at the same time. We stopped buying Beneful and changed to Pedigree and they haven’t thrown up since. There was definetly something wrong with Beneful… that could gave made my dogs very ill if I hadn’t changed the food.
I am a couponer and purchased about 20 bags and feed my 3 dogs over the time period untill food was almost gone and my dog became sick and laid around I though maybe she just had a cold due to weather change a couple days later she passed and few days went by people was asking me about the dog food omg did I hurt my animals by feeding them this dog food that I knew anything at the time about..
I had a beautiful healthy litter of puppies that were Redbone Bloodhound and red nose pit mostly trained and raised for hunting dogs upon giving the puppies that Benefit puppy food for 3 days two of my puppies got unexplainably sick and died after this happened I read about this lawsuit and it just sickens me to know by feeding them Beneful I actually caused their death yes this does need to be put on social media to let people be aware of the harm if they’re causing their pets and that this company is causing to our love companions every chance I get when I’m in the dog food aisle at the store shopping I try to make every consumer who is in the aisle at that time aware
People please spread the word to others cause some people dont know and they will wonder what happened to their dog we have to post about this food to maybe save a dogs life. Post to social media.
I feed my chihuahua Beneful and we just had to put him to sleep 2 months ago. He was only 6 years old and was healthy before. I never even thought it could have been the food.