May 21, 2007 1:17 pm US/Eastern
N.J. May Give Pet Owners Right To Sue
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS News) ―
New Jersey on Monday will consider giving pet owners the right to sue for emotional pain and suffering if an animal gets sick or dies from eating contaminated pet food.
Joyce Tischler, founding director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, said New Jersey would become one of the few states in the nation to allow such lawsuits. She said Tennessee allows pet owners to sue for up to $5,000 in damages. New Jersey's proposal includes no damage limit.
"This would be a significant step forward in state legislation," Tischler said.
New Jersey Assemblyman Neil Cohen said his bill would change the legal standard that generally regards pets as property.
"For many pet owners, losing a dog or cat to tainted food is tantamount to losing a loved one to a preventable tragedy," Cohen said.
Veterinarians have opposed similar proposals in other states, arguing that such laws would increase consumer costs and encourage frivolous lawsuits.
Cohen's bill is set to be considered Monday by an Assembly committee. He said he wrote it following March's nationwide pet food recall.
More than 150 brands of pet food were recalled because they were contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical. The contamination caused the deaths of an unknown number of dogs and cats.
Canada-based pet food maker Menu Foods Inc. has said it faces more than 50 lawsuits following the recall. But Tischler said such those filing such lawsuits will likely only be able to pursue the market value of a pet.
"Unless you live with Rin Tin Tin, in most instances that's de minimis value," she said.
One such lawsuit is being pursued in Missouri by a man who blames contaminated pet food for his dog's deathly illness. He has sued two food companies and Wal-Mart.
Richard Schwinger is seeking class-action status for the lawsuit filed last Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Springfield. Attorney David Payne of Cassville represents Schwinger, whose dog was euthanized in March.
Named as defendants are Menu Foods, Del Monte Foods; and Wal-Mart, which the complaint states is the single largest distributor of Menu Foods' products.
Schwinger alleges that his dog Sandy, an otherwise healthy 2-year-old, had to be euthanized as a result of eating Menu Foods' Ol' Roy Pet Food and Del Monte's Canine Carry-out Bacon Bite, which were purchased at a Wal-Mart store in Cassville.
Schwinger said Sandy's health began declining in late February and early March, but that he continued offering the dog the same food, unaware that it was contaminated.
In mid-March, a veterinarian told Schwinger that Sandy was suffering kidney failure due either to tainted pet food or a family history of kidney failure, the lawsuit said. Sandy's breeder said there was no such history, according to the lawsuit.
Schwinger said the veterinarian eventually told him his dog was suffering so much that it should be euthanized, which was done, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants failed to prevent the distribution of tainted pet foods after the discovery of contaminated wheat gluten in their ingredients.
John Simley, a Wal-Mart spokesman at the company's offices in Bentonville, Ark., said Wednesday by phone that Wal-Mart could not comment because it had not yet been served with the lawsuit.
Del Monte and Menu Foods both declined to comment. "We are not commenting on any of these lawsuits," Menu Foods spokesman Sam Bornstein said.
Meanwhile, Menu Foods and another leading manufacturer, Chenango Valley Pet Foods, are phasing out the use of ingredients from China, USA Today reported.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
