Slaughterhouse Settles Multi-Million Dollar Suit

A 2008 undercover investigation of a California slaughterhouse by animal-welfare group the Humane Society of the United States, which depicted “downer” cows being kicked, shocked, and moved with forklifts, resulted in the largest meat recall in US history and a multi-million dollar settlement. According to The San Diego Union Tribune, after the video was released, a $155 million lawsuit was subsequently filed against the slaughterhouse, a meatpacking facility, and two loan companies. The defendants also faced prosecution from the federal government for violating the False Claims Act, for receiving financial backing from a convicted felon. The lawsuit has put the guilty parties in financial straits and only $3.1 million will be paid.