The owners of thousands of cats and dogs killed or sickened by tainted pet food could share in a proposed $32 million settlement that would cover out-of-pocket costs — and provide a bit extra for undocumented expenses.
The preliminary settlement, filed Thursday night in U.S. District Court in Camden, N.J., would resolve more than 100 lawsuits filed last year by anguished pet owners in the United States and Canada against companies that made or distributed the poisonous food.
The proposed settlement would provide $24 million for a range of documented expenses — such as medical treatment, the cost of the pet food, health screenings, euthanasia and burial costs — on top of the $8 million already paid out for claims.
Pet owners could receive $900 for “reasonable economic damages submitted without documentation.” Such damages could include travel expenses, property damage (to carpets, for example), lost wages, “or any other expense related to the pet’s illness or death.”
One lawyer in the case said the undocumented expenses also were meant to help compensate people for their emotional distress without referring to them in those explicit terms.
