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Shameful Hill’s Pet Food Lawsuit Settlement

A shockingly low settlement agreement has been given preliminary approval by a federal judge for the deadly Hill’s excess vitamin D lawsuit.

A shockingly low settlement agreement has been given preliminary approval by a federal judge for the deadly Hill’s excess vitamin D lawsuit.

From the public notice:

A federal judge has given Preliminary Approval to a class action settlement.  Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc.; Hill’s Pet Nutrition Sales, Inc. (together, “Hill’s”); and Colgate-Palmolive Co. (“Colgate”) (collectively, “Defendants”) have agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle claims arising out of the sale and marketing of Hill’s Prescription Diet and Science Diet canned dog food products sold between September 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019.”

This potential settlement agreement was for products that Hill’s recalled between January 31, 2019 and March 20, 2019 (two recalls) – all of the recalled products contained excess vitamin D.

The FDA issued a warning letter to the vitamin D supplier to Hill’s Pet Food, disclosing that the vitamin premix used in the pet foods contained “vitamin D levels at 2903% of the amount claimed” on the label.

Following this FDA warning letter, the FDA issued Hill’s a warning letter disclosing that Hill’s failed to follow their own safety procedures; “Your firm also failed to test, evaluate against your specification, and subsequently reject the vitamin premix containing excess vitamin D, as required by your food safety plan.”

It is unknown exactly how many pets were sickened or died due to these recalls. Eighty-six lots of pet foods were recalled.

All of these seriously significant issues were known in this lawsuit, yet the settlement was only for $12.5 million. And – that $12.5 million settlement is not just for pet owners, this settlement amount also includes attorney fees. “Defendants have agreed to create a Settlement Fund of $12,500,000.  This amount covers all purchasers who are part of the Settlement Class. This amount also covers the costs of administering the Settlement and any attorneys’ fees and Litigation Expenses awarded by the Court.”

By comparison…

In 2015 Blue Buffalo agreed to a settlement of $32 million for a lawsuit. This lawsuit was not founded on any recalled pet food, there were no pet deaths or illnesses. This $32 million settlement was for products labeled to contain chicken meal when they actually contained chicken by-product meal. This Blue Buffalo lawsuit was basically a mislabeling lawsuit.

How can Hill’s Pet Food or any attorney involved believe $12.5 million is a fair settlement? Thirty-two million for a mislabeling lawsuit six years ago and only $12.5 million involving potentially thousands of pet deaths and thousands more pets that suffered serious illness?

On the pet food settlement website – http://www.petfoodsettlement.com/ – there appears to be options for pet owners to tell the court you disagree with the settlement and/or opt-out of the lawsuit.

But…(as of the publication of this post) the official website for the Hill’s settlement (that was “authorized by the Court, supervised by counsel and controlled by the Settlement Administrator approved by the Court“) ONLY makes it easy for pet owners to accept this $12.5 million settlement and submit a claim. As you can see in the image above, ‘Submit A Claim’ is linked (indicated by the blue colored font) to another page on the website providing pet owners detailed information on how to accept this settlement. But the option to object to the settlement or opt out is NOT linked to another page on the website.

To opt out or to object, pet owners have to work to find information and work even harder to submit your objection or have the right to sue Hill’s on your own.

Way down on the frequently asked questions page it states that pet owners who “Object to the Settlement” are forced to stay in the lawsuit. “You cannot both exclude yourself from the Settlement and object at the same time. If you exclude yourself, you cannot object to any part of the Settlement. You have to remain in the Settlement Class in order to maintain your right to object to any part of the Settlement.

Making matters worse, to object to this settlement pet owners have to send a signed letter not only to the Court but also to eight different attorneys.

In other words, not only is a pet owner forced to roll the dice and accept the settlement to voice an opinion on the settlement – such as to tell the court $12.5 million is a ridiculously low settlement considering Hill’s failed to follow their own safety procedures resulting in serious pet illness and untold deaths when Blue Buffalo settled for more than double that on a lawsuit where no pets were sickened or killed – nine separate letters must be mailed individually signed by the pet owner.

If a pet owner wants to opt out of the lawsuit, that takes significant effort too.

If you want to be excluded from this Settlement, you must submit a Request for Exclusion even if you have already sued Defendants.

The letter must contain the following information: 

  1. the name, address, and all digits of the Social Security or Tax ID number of the Settlement Class Member requesting exclusion; 
  2. the physical signature and the signature of anyone else required under law to bind the Settlement Class Member who is seeking to be excluded (not an electronic copy);
  3.  the date the request was signed;
  4.  the type of claim (i.e. whether it is a Dog Injury Claim or Consumer Food Purchase Claim);
  5.  a statement that you are choosing to exclude yourself from the Settlement; and
  6. the name of your attorney, if you have one.  

Your signature must be made and dated on or after March 8, 2021.  Your letter must be received by June 21, 2021. Send the letter to:
Hill’s Pet Food Settlement Program Exclusions
c/o Settlement Administrator
PO Box 0097
Warminster, PA 18974-0097

“You can’t exclude yourself on the phone or by e-mail.  If you do not provide the information required to exclude yourself, you’ll be deemed to have waived your right to exclude yourself and will be a member of the Settlement Classes.”

And remember – if a pet owner does not do all of the above, they automatically lose their right to sue Hill’s Pet Food for the death of the pet or an illness of their pet linked to these excess vitamin D recalls.

Personal opinion: This settlement offer is adding insult to injury. Who thought this was fair? Not only was every pet owner that provided their pet a toxic Hill’s pet food devastated by the pet’s death or illness, they now are handed a paltry settlement that will likely be pennies after lawyers are paid (the same lawyers that arranged this settlement). This is shameful.


Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food


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7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. Kenneth Robinson

    March 9, 2021 at 12:06 pm

    Proving yet again that the pet food industry is motivated only by profit by any means necessary and that the federal regulatory agencies are bought and paid for agents of the industry. The take away lesson is that you MUST make your own pet food.

  2. Pacificsun

    March 9, 2021 at 4:47 pm

    Simple, they’re teaching pet owners AND attorney’s it’s going to be a waste of time any PF matter. If they paid out big time or admitted guilt, there’d be no end to litigation. Honestly a lawsuit is worse that just suspending their operating lisence. Never understood why that would be the consequence.

    • Pacificsun

      March 9, 2021 at 4:51 pm

      ….okay the website is clearly not working right because it’s dropping characters …

      Here are the corrections:

      a waste of time to object to any PF matter
      is worse than just suspending their operating license. Never understood why that would NOT be the consequence.

      (There should be an edit feature).

  3. Tina

    March 10, 2021 at 6:11 pm

    I’m not knowledgeable on how class action lawsuit settlements work so please correct me — is the $12.5 mill settlement amount not a mutual agreed-upon amount by both sides of the lawsuit? (Doesn’t the judge approve the $ amount only if plaintiffs and defendants agree to settle at that amount?)

    • Susan Thixton

      March 10, 2021 at 6:21 pm

      I believe you are correct (I’m not an attorney either). Both sides attorneys agree to the settlement.

  4. Charita Michelle Ford

    September 10, 2021 at 7:59 pm

    I agreed to nothing. When my “Noel” was dying (March 2019) after having consumed their overdosed contaminated Hills Science Diet can food purchased in December 2018. I emailed the ethics division of Colgate Palmolive. A few weeks later the sent me a packet requesting I prove having purchased it —send receipts this unethical company said. Noel died on March 27,2019. This company pretends now to be a WOKE company—with all its fake lying critical race theory bologna. I’ll tell you what matters—DOGS LIVES MATTER and Colgate Palmolive killed mine through their negligence. I don’t have to opt out or sign anything! I am suing Colgate Palmolive for the death of Noel. Don’t but their dishwashing soap or toothpaste. BOYCOTT them for not only their negligence but their blatant disregard for what matters to pet owners—the lives health of their pets. Stand with me. See me on GAB

  5. David Jones

    March 18, 2023 at 2:42 pm

    And to add further insult to injury, the handling of settlement awards was given to Blackhawk Network, and their Myprepaidcenter.com website. We chose to get our money via the e-card option, and had nothing but problems with the card. Long story, haven’t been able to use a single dime of the $35 award, and receive a letter from Blackhawk back in Sept. 2022, that their site was compromised, and that a new card needed to be created. Tried to do that, with no success. Tried looking into it further with Blackhawk, all you get is a run around, dealing with customer service reps that you can barely understand, and only want to transfer your call, pass the buck. They don’t make it easy for a reason, so you give up in frustration, and they pocket your award money!! Google Blackhawk Network and Better Business Bureau. TONS of negative comments about Blackhawk. They sound like a scam company. Some government agency needs to look into this. Also, there should be a law that if there is a class action lawsuit settlement, that you ONLY get your money by a check. I hope this helps.

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