Pet Food Products Liability Settlement

If you purchased or your pet consumed pet food and/or treat product(s) recalled after March 16, 2007, please review this information carefully as it concerns a proposed settlement that may affect your rights.

There is a proposed class action settlement of the class action lawsuits that are pending in Canadian and U.S. courts regarding certain recalled pet food and/or treat product(s).

This proposed Settlement Agreement is with defendants and persons or entities that handled, distributed, purchased for resale and/or redistribution, supplied, manufactured and/or sold or offered for sale pet food and/or pet treats that may have contained contaminated wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate and were recalled beginning in March 2007, as well as certain defendants, persons or entities that supplied that wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate ("Recalled Pet Food Products"). The settlement includes Canada and the United States. Complete lists of persons or entities involved and the Recalled Pet Food Products can be found by clicking here (PDF: 69.1 KB). You also may request copies of these lists by calling or writing to the Claims Administrator.

Plaintiffs allege, through lawsuits filed in Canada and in the United States, that the defendants handled, distributed, purchased for resale and/or redistribution, supplied, manufactured and/or sold or offered for sale the Recalled Pet Food Products that were contaminated with substances unfit for pet consumption, that the Recalled Pet Food Products were recalled beginning in March 2007, and that, as a result of the contamination, persons who purchased and/or whose pets consumed the Recalled Pet Food Products were damaged and that some pets were taken for screening, or may have became sick and/or died. By agreeing to the proposed settlement described in this Notice, Defendants make no admission as to the truth of these allegations, and they deny any wrongdoing.

The defendants collectively have agreed to create a twenty-four million dollar ($24,000,000.00 (USD)) cash Settlement Fund from which eligible consumers and/or pet owners may receive a cash payment for up to 100% of all documented economic damages they incurred related to their purchase of or their pet's consumption of the Recalled Pet Food Products subject to certain limitations described in the FAQs. Economic damage means the expenses you incurred related to your purchase or your pet's consumption of the Recalled Pet Food Products, including but not limited to testing, veterinary bills, property damage and any expenses related to your purchase or your pet's illness and/or death.

For each of your pets that consumed Recalled Pet Food Products, you may recover up to 100% of the reasonable economic damages you claim you suffered if you can supply documents showing the economic damage subject to certain limitations described in the FAQs.

In addition to compensation for expenses supported by documentation, you may also receive payment for other reasonable economic damages for which you do not have documentation to support. You must still complete a claim form and provide information about your economic damages to be eligible for payment of your undocumented expenses. Recovery for undocumented economic damages is limited to a maximum of $900 (USD) per pet. The Proposed Settlement does not provide any compensation for non-economic losses.

You are a member of the Class if you purchased Recalled Pet Food Products, which were recalled between March 16, 2007 and the present, and/or your pet consumed the Recalled Pet Food Products. A list of the Recalled Pet Food Products can be found here (PDF: 48.9 KB). If you do not wish to be bound by the Settlement, you must exclude yourself (opt out) by no later than September 13, 2008. Further information on how to exclude yourself, please refer to the Notice posted on this website.

This Settlement applies to both Canadian and US residents. However, there will be different timelines in the U.S. for completion of the various steps required to make a claim or seek to be excluded from the settlement. If you are a U.S. resident who purchased or whose pet(s) consumed Recalled Pet Food Products, please click here, or contact the Claims Administrator at 1-800-392-7785 for information on the U.S. process.

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