Actor and self-professed animal lover Dick Van Patten, owner of Nature Balance Pet Foods, joined the fray of litigants suing over the massive 2007 pet-food recalls spurred by tainted wheat gluten and rice protein from China.
Wilbur-Ellis Co. continued to process contaminated shipments, which Nature Balance unwittingly distributed, the pet-food company claims in Superior Court.
The lawsuit invokes the words of Sir Walter Scott: "Recollect that the Almighty, who gave the dog to be companion of our pleasures and our toils, hath invested him with a nature noble and incapable of deceit." In the next sentence, Nature Balance points out that Wilbur-Ellis "displayed just the opposite nature and as a result pets across the country died and were sickened."
Nature Balance demands actual and punitive damages for its economic losses and severe damage to its reputation.
Van Patten starred in "Spaceballs," "High Anxiety" and numerous television shows. |
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