Which life is worth more, a dog's or a lawyer's?

Maker of tainted dog food to pay $3.1M

Official Diamond Pet Food Settlement Website

Good. I'm glad to see that this company, Diamond Pet Foods, is stepping up and compensating those who lost money because of vet bills, replacing tainted food, or even worse, the loss of a pet.

The settlement states that owners of a dog that died as a result of eating the contaminated food could receive up to $1,000. Owners could also be compensated up to $1,000 for testing and treatment for aflatoxin poisoning, as well as payment for up to two bags of pet food.

Ok, it is impossible to put a price on a pet's value, but at least they did something. Even most purebred dogs will not cost over $1000. And to a pet owner, no amount of money will ever be enough; but to the rest of the world, $1000 is still a lot of money.

But here is where things get dicey.

Andrews and other attorneys representing the claimants will receive a fee of $465,000, which will be paid out from the $3.1 million, according to the settlement.

Um, unless the lawyers had to eat the tainted food as part of the legal proceedings, all they really did is shuffle paper. And they have been shuffling paper on this case since December 2005. Oh, and no, this wasn't the same case as the recent recall which was for melamine tainted food from China.