Petland Sale of Unhealthy Pets Conspiracy RICO Class Action

It’s deceptive to sell unhealthy animals as healthy, but it’s much worse when the deception turns into a conspiracy that bilks owners of money and deprives pets of proper veterinary care. The complaint for this class action alleges that Petland, Inc. and its co-conspirators failed to properly check the health of the cats and dogs it sold and, when new owners saw signs that animals were sick, attempted to hide their true condition in order to protect Petland’s profits. 

The class for this action is all persons who bought a cat or dog from Petland in the US between July 2013 and the present. The complaint also proposes a Georgia subclass comprised of all persons who bought a cat or dog from Petland in Georgia between the same dates.

Plaintiff Rosalba Cisneros bought a shih tzu puppy named Giant from Petland in Kennsaw, GA for $2,400 on December 10, 2015. The complaint claims that the price included the dog, a certification that it had been inspected by a vet and was healthy, and animal care services through PAWSitive Solutions, Inc. and Petland’s preferred veterinarians, and that Cisneros also received a “Limited Puppy Purchase Contract” that called for veterinary care through PAWSitive and local vet Dr. Walton Waller.

According to the complaint, however, Giant began vomiting and having severe diarrhea as soon as Cisneros got him home. Four days later, on December 14, the complaint says, Cisneros took Giant to Waller, who did not provide a diagnosis but gave him a prescription for an antibiotic. The next evening, according to the complaint, Giant seemed so weak and lethargic that Cisneros took him to an emergency clinic that was not one of Petland’s providers, where he was diagnosed with parvovirus, a contagious condition that must be reported to the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDOA). The complaint claims the visit cost Cisneros $1,000.

The next day, the complaint says, she called the Kennesaw Petland store, which insisted that she take the dog back to Waller if she wanted to be reimbursed for treatment. She did this, but the complaint claims that Waller provided no treatment and the dog died. When a GDOA investigator questioned Waller, the complaint claims, the vet said that Giant had died of a liver disease, even though a necropsy performed by a independent vet showed that the dog had in fact died from parvovirus.

According to the complaint, Petland buys many of its dogs and cats from “puppy mills” and other inhumane sources where disease is common, transports them in cramped conditions with other animals that may be sick, then does little to certify their health. The complaint says that Petland falsely claims that the animals are “vet checked at least twice” and “healthy” while in fact Petland does very little to check their health and sometimes even uses rubber stamps with vet signatures to “certify” the animals’ health, without giving them any examination at all.

In fact, the complaint charges, Petland tries to sell animals quickly, so that if they have contracted something on their way to its stores, the animals will be gone before the seven to ten day incubation period when symptoms begin to show up. The complaint says that Petland conspires with its preferred vets to ensure that when an animal does show up sick, the new pet owner will not blame Petland for the sickness and may not even find out what the animal has. This conspiracy to defraud the customer is the cause of the federal and Georgia RICO counts in the complaint. 

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Animal Health and Welfare, RICO laws