A class-action lawsuit was filed Wednesday on behalf of a Denver cat owner in U.S. District Court against Canada-based pet-food maker Menu Foods and its subsidiaries. The lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive damages for pet owners including Emily Tompkins, whose cat, Grover, died in March after eating tainted pet food, said attorney Jennifer Thomaidis.
Thomaidis is working with the Madison, Wis.-based Progressive Law Group.
The 23-page lawsuit also names Safeway, Petco and Kroger chain stores accused of selling the allegedly tainted pet food.
“Colorado pet owners want justice served,” Thomaidis said. “They want companies that allowed this to happen to take responsibility.”
Additional local news briefs:
LARIMER COUNTY
Chess expert gets jail in child sex assault
A nationally ranked chess player who pleaded guilty to sexual assault on a child was sentenced Wednesday in Larimer County District Court to two years of jail time, at least 10 years of intensive supervised probation and a lifetime status of being a sex offender.
Robert Snyder, 51, was accused by Fort Collins police in 2003 of sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy and two 13-year-old male chess students.
Snyder pleaded guilty in January to felony sexual assault on a child and unlawful sexual contact, a misdemeanor.
Snyder will serve two years in the Larimer County jail on the misdemeanor charge and then begin his 10-years-to-life probation for the felony, said Larimer County district attorney’s spokeswoman Linda Jensen.
Snyder also cannot have any contact with anyone younger than 18 and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, Jensen said.
AURORA
Police ID victim in apartment shooting
Police have identified the victim in Tuesday’s shooting death at an apartment on South Vaughn Way as Duray Lashan Benjeman, 21.
Benjeman was shot in the upper body early Tuesday at an apartment in the 2000 block of South Vaughn Way while struggling with another man over a shotgun, police said.
He was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later. Police continue to investigate and have not said how Benjeman was shot.
DENVER
Komen fund gives record grant amount
Denver’s Susan G. Komen for the Cure has given $3 million to 30 area organizations to help with breast cancer detection, treatment and research.
The amount is the largest ever granted in Denver by the Denver affiliate of the Komen fund, formerly known as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Among the largest grants are:
DENVER
$150,000 grant given to conserve Still art
The Clyfford Still Museum has received a Save America’s Treasures grant of $150,000 to aid conservation of artwork from the Still estate for the Denver institution, the museum announced Wednesday.
In 2004, the artist’s widow, Patricia Still, donated her husband’s holdings to Denver – more than 2,100 paintings and works on paper – on the condition the city build a museum that is now planned adjacent to the Denver Art Museum.
