consumer fraud
Dakota was purchased by Bryan Phillips and his girlfriend from Happiness is Pets and has been diagnosed with distemper.
Six families that purchased puppies from various Happiness is Pets stores in the Chicago-area that later became ill with distemper have filed a lawsuit against the chain. In the suit filed in DuPage County Court earlier this week, the plaintiffs claim that Happiness is Pets (HIP) commits consumer fraud by misrepresenting the origin of the puppies it sells.
The suit seeks damages from all of the stores in the chain along with owner Ronald Berning. It states that Happiness is Pets misrepresents that its puppies come from small-scale breeders when they actually come from “some of the most despicable and horrendous puppy mills in the Midwest.” The chain made headlines last month when several puppies sold by HIP were diagnosed with distemper, a very contagious and deadly disease.
Update in the distemper cases
According to the Humane Society of the United States today, there have been eleven confirmed distemper cases affecting five HIP stores with many more suspected cases. At least five of the dogs with confirmed cases have died and several other puppies died before they were tested. The HSUS says the dogs were sold at the stores between November 2011 and January 2012. The organization has received reports from some buyers that indicate the store’s vet has been refusing to test some of the sick puppies for distemper claiming that they fear “false positive” results even when the dogs have clinical symptoms.
The suit“The cases have been linked to several different breeders so the exact source of these cases has not yet been determined, but that is really up to the Department of Agriculture to investigate,” says Kathleen Summers, Director of Outreach and Research, Puppy Mill Campaigns for HSUS. “We believe the majority of puppies may have been exposed during transport to the HIP store chain since we are not aware of any other pet stores that have been affected yet.”
The suit focuses on two uniform misrepresentations it claims is made by Happiness is Pets –
- First it claims that HIP tells its customers that the puppies are healthy, “failing to disclose that many have been continuously treated for health problems since arriving at their stores. The store also fails to disclose the full medical history of the dogs that it sells including which animals are on antibiotics.”
- Secondly, the store claims that their dogs come from some of the best small-scale breeders in the Midwest. The suit alleges that HIP’s puppies come instead from large-scale “puppy mills that do not ensure its dogs receive the proper necessities, including veterinary, shelter and exercise necessitates.”
The plaintiffs are seeking a full refund of the purchase price of the puppies including tax and fees along with veterinary and other expenses resulting from the purchase of sick puppies. One of the plaintiffs in the case is Bryan Phillips, who purchased his Dachshund Dakota from the store shortly before Christmas. Although the dog has been slowly recovering, Dakota did have a health set back over the weekend with diarrhea and vomiting.
“On the bright side of things, the vet believes the distemper virus is no longer in her system and if she was going to succumb to it, it would have happened by now,” says Phillips. “Now that leaves us with all the long term side effects of the disease. I can place a big bold check mark next to gastrointestinal issues. Next up is if her adult teeth will have enamel on them. Time will only tell. This is troubling because accord to her pet record she is around four months of age. At this time, her adult teeth should start to be coming through which they are not.”
In an interview earlier this year (see story), Phillps said that he had purchased Dakota along with his girlfriend because they wanted a healthy puppy from a good breeder. I'll have a more indepth look at Dakota's story later this weekend.
