The Litigation Program files high-impact lawsuits against individuals and industries that exploit animals, including factory farms, puppy mills, research laboratories, and roadside zoos. We litigate cases in state and federal courts with the goal of stopping abusive practices and setting ground-breaking precedent that will establish justice for animals in the legal system. In addition to suing animal abusers, we often sue state and federal governments and agencies to invalidate laws and regulations that harm animals; and we intervene in litigation to defend animal protection laws when they are under siege from industries that abuse animals.
Animal Legal Defense Fund v Hormel Foods Corporation
The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against Hormel Foods Corporation alleging the company is misleading consumers through the advertising of its Natural Choice® brand of lunch meats and bacon.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the Kenney family seeking to end their deceptive marketing and sale of puppies, and to recover damages for those who were victimized by the puppy traffickers’ unscrupulous conduct.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a federal lawsuit challenging an Arkansas law that prohibits plant-based and cultivated-meat producers from, among other things, using “meat” terminology because their products do not come from a slaughtered animal.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit challenging the USDA decision to deny a petition for rulemaking that urged the agency’s APHIS to revise its limited animal confiscation regulations and establish procedures for relocating animals from facilities that do not comply with the AWA.
Animal Legal Defense Fund, et al. v. Kimberly Reynolds, et al.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund, together with a coalition of public interest groups, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, challenging the constitutionality of the recently-passed Iowa Recording Ban — a new Ag-Gag law.
In 2018, the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a groundbreaking lawsuit on behalf of an 8-year-old horse named Justice. If successful, this lawsuit will be the first to establish that animals have a legal right to sue their abusers in court.
Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Special Memories Zoo, LLC et al.
The court permanently banned Special Memories Zoo, its owner, and manager from ever possessing or exhibiting animals — other than dogs or personal pets — again or working with any business that does so.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the Animal Kingdom pet store and purported rescue group Bark Adoptions for unlawfully circumventing the California law that bans the retail sale of dogs.
