Hill’s Pet Nutrition Defeats Class Status in Deception Lawsuit

Hill’s Pet Nutrition convinced a federal judge to decertify a class of pet owners alleging the company duped customers into thinking its “Prescription Diet” pet food contained a drug or medicine.

The pet food company previously won summary judgment on the consumers’ unfair practices claim, but their deceptive practices claim was allowed to proceed. The damage model the consumers used to support class certification was based on the rejected claim, and so that certification no longer is proper, the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois said Monday.

The consumers sued after learning the pet food was the ...