Pet Owners Face Problems With Significant Lawsuits Against Menu Foods

On the face of it, Menu Foods would seem to be liable for substantial damages after failure to disclose problems with their pet food products that they were aware since at least February 20, 2007, but did not notify the public until only last week as more pets became ill, cost their owners big vet bills, and many pets died. All of this seems highly damaging to Menu Foods, which has hurt their own case even more with the failure to even offer refunds for the defective pet food to buyers. On the surface, the entire matter appears to be a gross example of corporate greed and failure to protect the public.

But as damning as the facts against Menu Foods are, pet owners such as the Chicago woman who lost a cat who is seeking a class action lawsuit enjoining potentially hundreds of victim owners whose pets became ill or were killed does face a huge uphill battle in the courts against Menu Foods. For one thing, the court have steadily refused to grant any higher than property staus to dogs and cats, which seriously lowers any potential lawsuit amounts for damages beyond much more than a "property" replacement value. "Loss of companionship" damages have so far been unsuccessful in American courts in regards to pets. Every year dogs or cats are killed by angry neighbors or by careless automobile accidents, yet almost no pet owner has been able to recover much more than a "property" replacement value or vet bills at best.

This is the difficulty that pet owners face. As much as a pet owner loves their animals, the courts simply have accepted this love and placed a similar dollar value on it. Until this changes, pet owners aren't likely to see substantial damages for a loss of a pet, even if damning facts exist against the defendant. Some states such as Oregon do prosecute severe animal abuse cases as a felony, however ity would be very diificult to make a felony case against Menu Foods executives at this point and put any behind bars.

Lawyers for Menu Foods should make an attempt to pay vet bills and some damages to pet owners though, as they could still face losing a class action suit that could still cost them a great deal of money. At some point, this company needs to solve the mystery of what is wrong in their products, settle with pet owners, and begin a road back in business, although many brands will likely never fully regain their original sales level and be permanently damaged in the mind of many pet food buyers.