Pet Food Recall - Menu Foods Class Action
Claim Forms
(Extended filing deadline - January 27,2008)
Canadian English Claim Form.pdf
Canadian French Claim Form.pdf
Settlement Notices
(As Approved by the Courts - Short Form)
Final Notice English Canada.pdf
Final Notice Francais Canada.pdf
In March, 2007, pet owners were shocked by the announcement of a major product recalls affecting almost all major brands of wet cat and dog food in North America. Beginning on March 22, 2007, Merchant Law Group LLP (as well as other law firms) launched a series of class action lawsuits in numerous Canadian jurisdictions against the foods manufacturer (Menu Foods), asserting that millions of containers of their products posed a serious danger to the health of cats and dogs, and were unfit for sale and unsafe for pets to eat.
The recall warnings issued for wet petfood (commonly known as 'cuts and gravy style' petfood) included over a hundred namebrands, for example, Iams, Eukanuba and many other brands of dog and cat food, after a number of reports of pets suffering serious effects, including but not limited to sickness, vomiting, kidney failure or death.
As a result of a series of mediation meetings and the litigation work of our firm and various other law firms across North America, a tentative North American Settlement was announced on April 1, 2008. The Settlement proposes to settle all class action litigation in North America regarding the Menu Foods Recall. Before it is an officially approved Settlement, the Settlement must be approved by courts in Canada and in the United States.
In Canada, joint judicial hearings are currently scheduled to be heard on November 3rd, 2008, at 9 a.m. Pacific Time. At the hearings, nine Canadian courts will determine whether the settlement is fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of those affected by it. A similar hearing is currently scheduled to be heard in the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, on October 14th, 2008.
If the Settlement is approved, it will apply to all people affected, unless they choose to opt out of the settlement class. If you decide you wish to opt out of the settlement, you must give notice that you wish to opt out in writing (using the opt out form from the below website) by no later than September 13th, 2008 for Canadian residents and by no later than August 15, 2008 for American residents.
Information regarding this Class Action Settlement, the hearings, and your options, is available at www.petfoodsettlement.com.
If you wish to apply for compensation regarding your pet(s), you should immediately go to the above website to register your claim for compensation under the Settlement.
Once the settlement is approved by the courts, a Court appointed class action administrator firm will be put in place to handle any inquiries that you may have, as well as to process compensation claims. As directed by the Courts, this work is handled by that settlement administrator firm, not by our law firm. As our firm will not be processing the claims, please save any documents you have for the settlement administrator firm.
Merchant Law Group LLP has 12 offices across Canada, with lawyers practising law in six provinces and an American state. Tony Merchant, Q.C., and his firm are well known for their involvement in Mass & Class Action cases in Canada, including class proceedings regarding Complete Contact Lens Solution, Silicon Breast Implant, Winners/HomeSense, HSBC Mutual Funds, Various Cellular Phone Fees, Molson-Coors Merger, Conrad Black/Hollinger, GM Gasket Manifolds, Lead Paint in Toys (and similar consumer products), Menu Foods, Paxil, Vioxx, Agent Orange, Cryptosporidium Water, Sony, Residential School litigation, CPR Anhydrous Ammonia, and cases regarding ISM Information Security, Tundra noxious gas emissions, Zonolite, Canadian Wheat Board Pool transfers, and various other cases. Tony Merchant is known to be one of Canada's most active litigators with more than 600 reported cases in leading Caselaw Journals, having argued thousands of cases before the Canadian and American Courts, in Trial and Administrative Courts, and the Courts of Appeal of various American and Canadian jurisdictions, the Federal Court of Canada, and the Supreme Court of Canada. Tony Merchant, Q.C., has a long history in pursuing public policy cases and is a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (M.L.A.)
Tony Merchant, Q.C., has a long history of pursuing public policy cases and was an elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (M.L.A.).