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Forum Thread

Should I file a lawsuit? do I have a case?

1,730 18 December 7, 2004 at 08:01 AM
Last night my girlfriend opened a can of fancy feast cat fod made by Purina to feed my cats.. upon opening it the the can violently exploded everywhere across her face.. It was the most foul, putrid, rancid contents ever.. It shot out with a great force all over her face and on the ceiling walls, etc.. I have tons of pictures documenting the whole disgusting thing, My girfriend was throwing up for half an hour afterwards and became violently ill.. We both had to throw out all of the clothes we were wearing and my house smells 100 times worse than a garbage dump.. We couldn't stay here last night becuase of the smell.. Now I have all of my windows up and it still smells like shit.. There are also stains all over my walls from the guck.. It was not normal cat food it was a black sludge and the most foul thing you could imagine..

Anyways I called Purina and they said it was a handling issue in their factories and that they improperly handled the can when it was cooking. Do you think a lawyer would take this case? Should we be compensated by Purina? Its the worst thing I've ever seen in my life..

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Juggernaut
12-07-2004 at 01:31 PM.
12-07-2004 at 01:31 PM.
Quote from rayzac99 :
That lady did not get a dime for that. It was overturned on appeal.
the last lady you're referring to wasn't the first to get burned, just first they declined to settle with out of court.

Quote from http://www.vanfirm.com/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit.htm :
Some observers wonder why McDonald's, after years of settling coffee-burn cases, chose to take this one to trial. After all, the plaintiff was a sympathetic figure - an articulate, 81-year-old former department store clerk who said under oath that she had never filed suit before. In fact, she said, she never would have filed this one if McDonald's hadn't dismissed her requests for compensation for pain and medical bills with an offer of $800.
i never heard it was overturned? interesting.
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Joined Sep 2003
Rotten Apple
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appleyum
12-07-2004 at 01:36 PM.
12-07-2004 at 01:36 PM.
She did get some money
http://www.mattenlaw.com/FSL5CS/a...icles6.asp
Quote :
The jury award was cut to a fraction of the original amount, and the case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
http://www.stellaawards.com/stella.html
Quote :
The resulting $640,000 isn't the end either. Liebeck and McDonald's entered into secret settlement negotiations rather than go to appeal. The amount of the settlement is not known -- it's secret!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus...7038/posts
Quote :
wo years after the accident Stella finally felt well enough to confront McDonald's about her injury. She wrote to McDonald's and, without making any financial demand, asked them politely to lower the coffee temperature. McDonald's wrote back and offered her $800, less than half of what her family estimated she was due for out-of-pocket medical expenses. Angered at the offer, which they perceived as a bribe to "shut her up," Stella's family retained Reed Morgan, a Houston attorney
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Last edited by appleyum December 7, 2004 at 01:40 PM.
Joined Nov 2004
Crush Pig. Crush him.
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Kristyn
12-07-2004 at 01:36 PM.
12-07-2004 at 01:36 PM.
This whole thread is farking hysterical. The mental picture I have of this incident is hilarious.

look around "Hey, where's the cat? It's time for din-din!"
Unsure "Be careful opening that, you don't wanna cut yourself"
Huh "Hmm...the can is bulging...that means there must be extra!"
Shocking "WTF??? HOLY SH!T NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
Ohmy "Honey, are you ok?"
vomit
Yuk "uh...here...let me hold your hair back..."
Ranting "Fark! There's black sh!t all over the walls...and on my clothes... vomit and all over the rug...FARK!!! Those sons of bitches are gonna PAY!!!"
Sly "Hey, you got the number for that lawyer guy on TV?"
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Joined Jan 2004
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dalesd
12-07-2004 at 01:37 PM.
12-07-2004 at 01:37 PM.
Quote from Juggernaut :
the last lady you're referring to wasn't the first to get burned, just first they declined to settle with out of court.



i never heard it was overturned? interesting.
She got something like $400 Million in the original decision. The jury saw a memo that said, essenitally, "Yeah, our coffee is too hot, and some people will get burned, but continue serving the hot coffee anyway."

On appeal, the award was vastly reduced. On the order of a few hundred thousand dollars.
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Joined Oct 2004
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pperry0501
12-07-2004 at 01:43 PM.
12-07-2004 at 01:43 PM.
lol nice story in esmiles kristyns
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Joined May 2004
:whee:
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amandatello
12-07-2004 at 01:43 PM.
12-07-2004 at 01:43 PM.
i think we were all hoping for pics of cat food in the girlfriend's face and not of her puke in the toilet. that really sucked. vomit
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Joined Nov 2004
Your fantasy
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bryan
12-07-2004 at 02:09 PM.
12-07-2004 at 02:09 PM.
still waiting on pics of your gf wearing the cat food

b
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Iaaaiws
12-07-2004 at 02:25 PM.
12-07-2004 at 02:25 PM.
Quote from tree :
Yeah they asked me what type of reimbursement I am seeking before they can send it to their claims department..

My girlfriend says 15K or we are going the route of a lawyer so thats what I'm asking for.. She really didn't deserve that to happen to her and she hasn't eaten food all day and is still nautious from the episode.. If it can pay for some of our wedding thats cool..
That is a joke, and representative of much of what is wrong with society in this country today. I would have no problem asking for a professional cleaning of the interior of your house and replacement of any damaged clothing or other items. And maybe a pretty generous amount of free cat food. But 15K?--give me a break. Sure it was a nasty little incident, but greed is no answer. If you push it too far I hope you end up with nothing.


But my biggest question and perhaps the most important--did the kitties end up getting fed after all that?
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Iaaaiws
12-07-2004 at 02:32 PM.
12-07-2004 at 02:32 PM.
Quote from Kristyn's Ghost :
This whole thread is farking hysterical. The mental picture I have of this incident is hilarious.

look around "Hey, where's the cat? It's time for din-din!"
Unsure "Be careful opening that, you don't wanna cut yourself"
Huh "Hmm...the can is bulging...that means there must be extra!"
Shocking "WTF??? HOLY SH!T NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
Ohmy "Honey, are you ok?"
vomit
Yuk "uh...here...let me hold your hair back..."
Ranting "Fark! There's black sh!t all over the walls...and on my clothes... vomit and all over the rug...FARK!!! Those sons of bitches are gonna PAY!!!"
Sly "Hey, you got the number for that lawyer guy on TV?"

:couldn't use the lmao because the amount of smilies is used up in the quote:

that is good stuff.


I also have a mental image of the poor cats thinking they are about to get fed and all of the sudden there is a loud noise with smelly crap flying everywhere and one of the humans barfing in the toilet while the other one is making really bright flashes with the little box-looking thing.
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Joined Jun 2004
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XXnarg
12-07-2004 at 02:32 PM.
12-07-2004 at 02:32 PM.
http://www.johnedwards2004.com/home.asp laugh out loud



If anyone can get some money out of this case, it's this guy!
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Last edited by XXnarg December 7, 2004 at 02:57 PM.
Joined Nov 2004
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Kristyn
12-07-2004 at 02:34 PM.
12-07-2004 at 02:34 PM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
:couldn't use the lmao because the amount of smilies is used up in the quote:

that is good stuff.


I also have a mental image of the poor cats thinking they are about to get fed and all of the sudden there is a loud noise with smelly crap flying everywhere and one of the humans barfing in the toilet while the other one is making really bright flashes with the little box-looking thing.
LMAO

yeah...and the cats were probably thinking "farking stupid humans" LMAO
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Original Poster
trunk
12-07-2004 at 03:27 PM.
12-07-2004 at 03:27 PM.
Quote from Kristyn's Ghost :
LMAO

yeah...and the cats were probably thinking "farking stupid humans" LMAO
actually the cats seem to be traumatized by the situation.. they won't touch any other cans of fancy feast now.. there are 3 cats and they are all completely ingoring the fancy feast and whole cans are going to waste untouched... they will only eat the dry food now.. I Better tack on 20k more for the psychological trauma on my cats yummy Just kidding

But none of you all could possibly imagine how bad it was.. once again the stench and disgust is indescribable through words- you had to be there..

I wanted to ask for 5k to help me paint the walls, replace clothes and for the embarassment and uncomfortableness my girlfriend went through, but the girlfriend is the one that bore the brunt of the terrible incident and she is pushing hard to ask for 15K so that is what she wants... The very nice and honest attorney we have lurking on slickdeals advised me to start high at 12K and I should be happy to settle at between 5-7k.. Personally I would be happy with $2,500 but we will see
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Dr Moron
12-07-2004 at 03:31 PM.
12-07-2004 at 03:31 PM.
$15K for bad catfood?!? Keep dreaming.

They might cover the cleaning costs, medical exam and 1yr of free cat food.

Sorry, you're not going to get a fat check because of spoiled catfood...
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Iaaaiws
12-07-2004 at 03:37 PM.
12-07-2004 at 03:37 PM.
Just farking great. A little while ago I went to feed my two cats. I grab the next can of Fancy Feast from the cabinet and of course what flavor is it?--Salmon. I almost put it back and grabbed a different one, but decided that was just silly. So just to be safe I look the can over really good to see if there is any sign of it bulging or anything, and it looks just fine. So I grab the little pull-tab thing and pop it open and....










....I farking flinch as it unventfully pops open. The cats are looking at me like I am nuts and wonder why it is taking me so long to give them their food.
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lowpro
12-07-2004 at 03:45 PM.
12-07-2004 at 03:45 PM.
Quote from Iaaaiws :
Just farking great. A little while ago I went to feed my two cats. I grab the next can of Fancy Feast from the cabinet and of course what flavor is it?--Salmon. I almost put it back and grabbed a different one, but decided that was just silly. So just to be safe I look the can over really good to see if there is any sign of it bulging or anything, and it looks just fine. So I grab the little pull-tab thing and pop it open and....

....I farking flinch as it unventfully pops open. The cats are looking at me like I am nuts and wonder why it is taking me so long to give them their food.
LMAO
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