According to a news source, former Sanlu Group chairwoman Tian Wenhua has appealed the life sentence she received after she entered a guilty plea to charges arising out of the melamine-tainted milk scandal in China that sickened hundreds of thousands of children and led to a number of deaths. Tian’s lawyer reportedly contends that his client did not make the decision to sell the tainted milk and that the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People’s Court had insufficient evidence to support a conviction for manufacturing and selling fake or substandard products. The appeal will be heard by the Higher People’s Court of Hebei Province. See Jurist, February 1, 2009.
Category Archives Global Courts
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. has agreed to pay $25 million to settle class claims filed after ready-to-eat meats tainted with Listeria monocytogenes allegedly sickened dozens of Canadians and caused 20 deaths in 2008. The settlement, which must be approved by courts in several provinces, would provide an additional $2 million if needed to fully compensate those filing claims by the July 31, 2009, deadline. The company’s Web site explains the settlement’s terms and notes what those objecting to it can do. Approval hearings will be conducted on March 5, 10 and 20 in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Quebec, respectively.
More than 200 Chinese families whose children were sickened after consuming melamine-contaminated milk products have reportedly filed suit against a group of 22 milk producers before the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing. Earlier class action suits filed in Chinese courts were not accepted, so it is unclear whether this action will proceed. According to Lin Zheng, who is coordinating the litigation for a group of volunteer lawyers, this lawsuit includes four dead children not previously accounted for in government statistics. Lin also indicated that the lawyers will file another lawsuit on behalf of the survivors of a fifth unacknowledged dead child. The government reported that six children died and nearly 300,000 became ill with kidney stones and other problems. The latest action includes a demand for more than $5.2 million in compensation. In a related development, a dairy middleman, convicted of selling 600 tons of melamine-tainted “protein powder” to dairy companies,…
The European Commission has reportedly indicated that it will file a World Trade Organization (WTO) challenge to the U.S. decision to impose new tariffs on European Union (EU) products involved in sanctions stemming from a dispute over beef hormones. The EU has banned hormone-treated beef since the early 1980s, and the WTO ruled in 1998 that the ban violated trade rules, thus opening the door for U.S. and Canadian trade sanctions. While the EU contends that it has scientific grounds to support the ban, the United States and Canada have maintained their trade sanctions against the European bloc. According to a French Roquefort cheese producer, 100 percent tariffs have been imposed on his products for nine years; a new sanctions update has increased the penalty to 300 percent. “Sales of Roquefort to the United States will be finished,” he reportedly said. At issue is a Bush administration decision to suspend the…
Hundreds of parents of children sickened in China by melamine-contaminated milk products have reportedly rejected the government-sanctioned compensation offer, which would have provided about US$29,000 to families that lost a child and US$4,380 for each child with serious kidney damage. The parents, who are gathering signatures in support of their demands, will instead seek long-term health care for those affected and research into the health effects that purportedly continue to afflict tens of thousands of children. They also apparently complain that the offer provides nothing for children older than age 3 and will not provide assistance to the dozens of families facing significant hospital bills. Zhao Lianhai, whose 4-year-old son was sickened, reportedly said in an interview, “Our biggest demand is not the compensation but medical treatment and academic research on the influence that melamine will have on the health of our children. We want to know what kinds of…
In late December 2008, Mexico banned imports of meat from 30 U.S. processing facilities, telling the USDA that sanitary issues were to blame, although some, including Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), suggested that the move was in retaliation for the new country-of-origin labeling (COOL) rules that took effect September 30. Mexican officials denied any connection and reportedly lifted the embargo for 26 of the plants as of December 30. According to a news source, Mexico is the leading buyer of U.S. meat, and the suspension led to a sharp decline in cattle and hog futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. U.S. and Mexican officials were reportedly scheduled to meet January 5, 2009, to discuss meat import issues. Meanwhile, Mexico has reportedly joined Canada before the World Trade Organization seeking consultations with the United States over the COOL regulations. The two countries are apparently most concerned about the impact on meat and livestock,…
A Chinese court has reportedly refused to accept a lawsuit filed by dozens of families whose children were sickened or died from consuming infant formula contaminated with melamine. Apparently the first-known group lawsuit to arise in the wake of the scandal, the complaint sought nearly US$2 million from the state-owned Sanlu Group Co., the dairy company that allegedly produced the tainted products. According to a news source, Chinese courts often turn down group suits, preferring to deal with individual cases and avoid angering party officials. Some one dozen individual cases are currently pending in courts around the country, but they have not yet been accepted. A lawyer for the affected families reportedly indicated that the group lawsuit was ostensibly not accepted because government departments are still investigating. See Associated Press, December 8, 2008.
The Canadian government has reportedly filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO), challenging the U.S. country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law. According to a news source, Canada alleges that COOL will impose unnecessary costs on meatpackers that use Canadian livestock and could lead to additional and more stringent labeling requirements in other countries. Canadian Trade Minister Stockwell Day was quoted as saying, “We believe that the country-of-origin legislation is creating undue trade restrictions to the detriment of Canadian exporters.” The complaint initiates a consultation period, which, if unsuccessful, could lead to resolution by a WTO dispute settlement panel. Canadian beef and pork producers recently called on the government to institute such action; further details about their concerns appear in issue 281 of this Update. See Meatingplace.com, December 2, 2008.
With more than 54,000 Chinese children sickened by the melamine contamination of milk and infant formula products in recent months and the government stalling over compensation of their families, some 15 lawyers have reportedly decided to file the claims of nearly 100 families in a single lawsuit against the Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co. The lawyers have not apparently set a date for its filing and intend to hold discussions with the dairy company at the heart of the alleged scandal. According to a news source, they are hoping to force a settlement by grouping a large number of claims. China’s government has ordered hospitals to order free treatment for the sick infants, but not all costs have been covered, and at least a dozen individual cases have already been filed. These suits are in a “legal limbo” because the courts have neither accepted nor refused them. See Associated Press, November…
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and the Canadian Pork Council, representing some 100,000 producers, are reportedly calling on their government to bring legal challenges under the North American Free Trade Agreement and WTO rules to the new country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law that took effect in the United States on October 1, 2008. According to the beef and pork producers, the law has begun shutting their livestock out of U.S. markets, where domestic and foreign animals must now be segregated in feedlots and packing plants. Origination documentation and disease-free tags are also apparently adding to producer costs. The Canadian producers claim that some companies are refusing to import Canadian cattle altogether and others will slaughter them only on certain days, a situation that threatens to cost the Canadian producers some $800 million annually. In a letter to Canada’s prime minister, the Cattlemen’s president reportedly said, “Our preliminary estimate is that COOL is reducing…
