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.
Cape Fear River Watch v. Environmental Protection Agency
The Animal Legal Defense Fund joined a coalition of conservation and community groups in filing a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to update national standards restricting water pollution from slaughterhouses.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the Tillamook County Creamery Association for its misrepresentations about the source of its milk and the conditions in which the company’s cows live.
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 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 is part of a coalition suing the Farm Service Agency for withholding and improperly redacting records regarding the funding of factory farms
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.
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.
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.
