When did Blue Buffalo get sued

By Isabella Storyclaire

last updated September 16, 2024

Contributions sourced from

LEGAL NEWSLINE

WILTON, Conn. (Legal Newsline) - Earlier this month, a leading natural pet food company announced it has agreed to settle class action lawsuits brought over allegations that the company deceived consumers about the ingredients in its products.

A total of 13 class actions were brought against Connecticut-based Blue Buffalo over its alleged false advertising.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuits claim, among other things, that certain Blue Buffalo products were not consistent with its True Blue Promise. The label indicates the products contains no chicken byproduct, along with no corn, wheat, soy or artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.

The class actions, brought on behalf of consumers who argue they paid a premium for the pet food products, were consolidated by the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation last year in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Blue Buffalo, which continues to deny any wrongdoing, said it agreed to the settlement to eliminate the uncertainties, burden and expense of further litigation.

Under the terms of the deal, the company will pay $32 million into a settlement fund.

Any attorneys fees awarded by the court and all costs of notice and claims administration will be paid from the fund.

The amount that each class member who submits a claim for reimbursement will receive will depend on the total amount of Blue Buffalo products purchased by the claimant during the class period and certain other conditions.

More than a year ago, we informed our Pet Parents about the misconduct of a former ingredient supplier and a broker. While we will continue to pursue our claims against them, we decided that it is in the best interest of our Pet Parents and our company to resolve the class actions now, said Bill Bishop, chairman and founder of Blue Buffalo.

All of us at Blue Buffalo continue to work tirelessly to make pet food with the finest natural ingredients for our furry family members.

The settlement agreement is subject to preliminary and final approval by the federal court.

Blue Buffalo said it intends to pay for the settlement with cash on hand.

A separate class action filed against the company by rival pet food maker Nestle Purina PetCare Co. is still ongoing.

From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at [email protected].

LEGAL NEWSLINE

ST. LOUIS (Legal Newsline) - A Missouri federal judge has approved a leading natural pet food companys settlement with thousands of its customers over allegations that the company deceived them about the ingredients in its products.

A fairness hearing was held Thursday before Chief Judge Rodney W. Sippel of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

The $32 million settlement, reached in December by Connecticut-based Blue Buffalo and customers who purchased products between May 7, 2008 and Dec. 18, 2015, will provide customers who filed a claim but couldnt provide a receipt up to $100.

For customers who filed a claim and have receipts, they will receive up to $2,000, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. A written order with the details had not yet been filed with the court.

According to the newspaper, more than 100,000 consumers filed claims before the April 14 deadline.

A total of 13 class actions were brought against Blue Buffalo over its alleged false advertising.

The pet food company, which continues to deny any wrongdoing, argues it was defrauded by a supplier that provided its chicken byproduct.

Blue Buffalo agreed to the settlement to eliminate the uncertainties, burden and expense of further litigation.

Under the terms of the deal, the company will pay $32 million into a settlement fund. Any attorneys fees awarded by the court and all costs of notice and claims administration will be paid from the fund.

According to the Post-Dispatch, attorneys fees and expenses will make up 25 percent of the settlement, or $8 million.

More than a year ago, we informed our Pet Parents about the misconduct of a former ingredient supplier and a broker. While we will continue to pursue our claims against them, we decided that it is in the best interest of our Pet Parents and our company to resolve the class actions now, Bill Bishop, chairman and founder of Blue Buffalo, said in December.

All of us at Blue Buffalo continue to work tirelessly to make pet food with the finest natural ingredients for our furry family members.

From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at [email protected].

Blue Buffalo's $32 million class action settlement approved in St. Louis

Thousands of customers who bought mislabeled Blue Buffalo pet food products will get a refund after a federal judge approved a $32 million settlement in St. Louis Thursday.

Connecticut-based Blue Buffalo admitted that some of its dog and cat food contained poultry byproduct meal even though its bags and marketing materials said they did not contain the ingredient.

The company never had any intent to sell any product that was mislabeled, Steven Zalesin, Blue Buffalos attorney, said in court Thursday.

Blue Buffalo maintains that it was defrauded by a supplier, Wilber-Ellis Co., that provided the poultry byproduct meal and mislabeled some of the ingredients shipped to its customers.

Several customers filed a lawsuit in federal court in St. Louis in October 2014 seeking class action status, alleging Blue Buffalos True Blue Promise was misleading and that they paid a premium price for the companys products based on the false information. Blue Buffalos True Blue Promise states its products dont contain poultry byproducts or preservatives.

Thursday, U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel approved a settlement that gives Blue Buffalo customers who filed a claim up to $100 for those without a receipt and up to $2,000 for those with a receipt for products purchased between May 7, 2008 and Dec. 18, 2015.

More than 100,000 customers filed claims by the April 14 deadline. The judge also approved attorneys fees and expenses for 25 percent of the settlement, or $8 million.

We are very pleased that the judge analyzed the settlement and confirmed our understanding that it provides a good result for the class, said Scott Kamber, an attorney representing customers who filed the lawsuit. This lawsuit goes a long way to demonstrating an interest by consumers attorneys and consumers that companies are held accountable.

St. Louis-based Nestl Purina PetCare, the nations largest pet products company, sued Blue Buffalo in federal court in May 2014, accusing Blue Buffalo of lying to customers about its use of ingredients.

In that lawsuit, which remains pending, Purina alleged Blue Buffalos advertising falsely claimed Blue Buffalos products were superior to those of competitors, including Purina, and did not contain chicken or poultry byproducts.

We are pleased pet parents will finally see some resolution from Blue Buffalo over the false statements they made about the ingredients used in their pet foods, said Purina spokesman Keith Schopp, calling it the largest pet food class action settlement on record. We believe its unfortunate that it took more than a year after Blue Buffalo admitted their advertising was false and more than two years after Purina discovered these issues and sued Blue Buffalo in a separate case to see Blue Buffalo take responsibility and have this case settled.

Lisa Brown 314-340-8127

@lisabrownstl on Twitter

[email protected]

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Blue Buffalo Agrees to Pay $32 Million in Settlement

The Blue Buffalo pet food company has entered into a settlement agreement in the consumer class action lawsuit brought against them (basically a false advertising lawsuit). This settlement is the largest in history, $8 million larger than the 2007 pet food recall settlement and $25.5 million larger than the 2014 Purina jerky treat settlement.

In an agreement where Blue Buffalo admits no wrong doing, the pet food company has agreed to a $32 million dollar settlement to eliminate the uncertainties, burden and expense of further litigation. The consumer lawsuit claimed that certain Blue Buffalo products were not consistent with the True Blue Promise. The amount that each class member receives will depend on the total amount of Blue Buffalo products purchased.

No pets became ill, and no pets died due to Blue Buffalo products containing by-product meal instead of chicken meal (to my knowledge). This lawsuit is (basically) reimbursement to consumers who trusted the brand was by-product free when it was discovered some of the Blue Buffalo pet foods did indeed contain by-products.

Blue Buffalo did not voluntarily issue a recall of their pet foods despite admitting publicly the foods were mislabeled (contained by-product meal instead of chicken meal as was stated on the pet food labels).

No State or Federal authority required Blue Buffalo to recall the mislabeled pet foods. It is unknown why. Mislabeling of a pet food is a violation of regulations and would be a foundation for recall.

The $32 million settlement covers seven separate consumer class action lawsuits from across the U.S. that were merged into one legal jurisdiction which happened to be in a Missouri federal court; the very same jurisdiction that the home offices of Purina Pet Foods are located in.

This consumer class action lawsuit and the subsequent $32 million dollar settlement got its footing from a Purina pet food lawsuit against Blue (which has yet to go to court).

In May of 2014, Purina Pet Food filed a lawsuit against Blue Buffalo claiming Blues pet food contained by-products when Blues advertising proclaimed No Chicken/Poultry By-Product Meals. Purina claimed they had laboratory testing proving some varieties of Blue Buffalo pet foods contained materials that are by-products. As the pet food versus pet food lawsuit continued, we learned that Blue Buffalo did indeed contain by-products however the blame was placed on an ingredient provider Wilbur Ellis corporation. The consumer class action lawsuits followed when the by-product meal debacle was announced.

We can assume that the settlement amount $32 million is based on the number of consumers in the multiple class action lawsuits and based on how many bags of pet foods they purchased (how much money the consumers spent) on mislabeled pet foods. We can also assume that Blue Buffalo will recover every dime (and then some) in their own lawsuit against the pet food ingredient supplier Wilbur Ellis (the company that sold them by-product meal instead of chicken meal).

Questions: Should Blue Buffalo be able to sue the ingredient supplier for the $32 million settlement amount (or more)? It appears that Wilbur Ellis did sell Blue the wrong ingredient, butwhat financial responsibility do you believe Blue Buffalo should bear solely themselves in this situation? Whose ultimate responsibility is it for the final products that consumers purchase (the ingredient providers or the pet food manufacturer or both)?

As exampleif a pet food ingredient supplier sold an ingredient to a pet food manufacturer that was contaminated with Salmonella, and the end product (the pet food) tested positive for Salmonella only the pet food would be held accountable, not the ingredient provider. Sois Wilbur Ellis selling Blue Buffalo the wrong ingredient Blue Buffalos responsibility or the ingredient providers responsibility?

Purina made the following statement regarding the Blue Buffalo lawsuit settlement: Purina is pleased Blue Buffalo is beginning to accept responsibility for its false advertising and mislabeling. I would agree Purina, I would guess most consumers are also pleased Blue Buffalo is beginning to accept responsibility for its false advertising and mislabeled pet foods. But, Id guess that most consumers would also ask you Purinawhen are you going to begin to accept responsibility for Beneful dog food and the many pet deaths linked to that pet food? The mere $6.5 million Purina/Waggin Train jerky treat settlement admitted no fault by Purina. Where is your own acceptance of responsibility to the many pets that died from consuming Waggin Train jerky treats? And one more, when will Purina properly label its own brands calling them dog and cat feed? Isnt a pet product termed food that does not meet any legal definition of food also false advertising and mislabeling?

A few more questions

This Blue Buffalo settlement agreement with consumers (for mislabeled pet foods) is the largest pet food class action settlement in history. It is larger than the 2007 pet food recall class action settlement by $8 million. It is larger than the 2014 class action settlement of Waggin Train jerky treats by $25.5 million.

Blue Buffalo in my opinion certainly owes consumers every dime back consumers spent on a mislabeled and mis-advertised pet food. But didnt the pet owners in the 2007 pet food recall class action deserve every dime back they spent on vet bills? Didnt the Waggin Train jerky treat class action pet owners deserve every dime back they spent on vet bills? Both of these settlements resulted in pennies to the dollar in return to heartbroken consumers for hard costs, not even considering the pain and agony watching their pets suffer and many die.

Is the judicial system placing a significantly higher financial penalty on companies that lie to or mislead consumers (on pet food labels and/or in advertising) than on companies whose products actual sicken or kill pets? If so, is this due to the legal issue that our pets are considered property with little or no monetary value?

Or is it that the judicial system is getting tougher on pet food companies as each lawsuit comes and goes?

One thing is for certain, our pet food regulatory system is a mess. Many of these issues should be caught by state and federal regulatory authorities long before the products reach consumers. It has been proven time and time again that pet food manufacturers and ingredient suppliers can quickly become reckless. How many lawsuits and pet deaths will it take for authorities to realize the current system of pet food regulating themselves isnt working?

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan ThixtonPet Food Safety AdvocateAuthor Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsibleTruthaboutPetFood.comAssociation for Truth in Pet Food

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