Montco woman files for class action after her cat suffocated in a food container
Ace, a kitten weighing 3 pounds, suffocated to death inside an Iris container. His owner filed a proposed class action suit against the plastic storage company alleging the bins are dangerous to cats.
Curiosity killed the cat, the adage goes, but in the case of Ace the kitten, the fault lies with a defective pet-food container, according to a proposed class-action lawsuit filed in Philadelphia’s federal court.
Valentina Mallozzi, of Montgomery County, says in the complaint that, in July, Ace managed to get into a locked Iris pet food container she ordered from Amazon. But once the 3-pound kitten was inside, the airtight lid dropped and locked Ace inside.
The lawsuit, filed last week, accuses Iris USA of creating a defective product that it markets as safe for pets. The complaint says Mallozzi is one of many pet owners who tragically lost their cat to an Iris container.
The complaint aims to represent all people in the United States who purchased an Iris container. The complaint does not include an estimate of how many people are included in the class, or how much money Iris would owe each person.
Iris USA, a subsidiary of Japanese plastics manufacturer Iris Ohyama, did not respond to a request for comment.
Mallozzi bought the Iris airtight stackable containers for $29.99 from Amazon in March, the complaint says. The containers have a locking mechanism that Iris claimed is designed to “keep pets from sneaking a second or even third breakfast with the secure locking latch,” according to the complaint.
The problem, the suit says, is that cats can open the latch from outside, climb in, and get trapped as the mechanism automatically locks them in. The airtight seal that keeps pet food fresh makes the trap deadly, as a “pet will suffocate within a few minutes,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit cites posts from the Prevent Pet Suffocation Facebook group in which cat owners share stories about their beloved pets getting trapped in an Iris container.
One post included in the complaint shares the story of Baby Bear, a family’s cat who was found dead in an Iris container by an 8-year-old girl.
“My cat, Max, also suffocated in an Iris pet food container,” a woman responded. “I know the pain you’re going through.”
Iris USA was put on notice, and not only by people on social media, the complaint says. In March, the Center for Pet Safety, a Virginia-based nonprofit, put out a report evaluating the risk food containers represent for pet suffocation that specifically calls out Iris.
The latch mechanism on the lid “significantly increases the risk of pet suffocation,” the report says.
The lawsuit says the product should have come with a label warning of the suffocation risk for pets that can unlatch the lid.