A court is hearing the country’s first civil lawsuit by a man whose child was sickened in China’s vast tainted milk scandal, state media reported yesterday.
At least six children died last year after drinking contaminated baby formula and more than 300,000 were sickened in one of the country’s worst food safety crises.
Parents and lawyers have reported pressure from government officials not to pursue lawsuits over the tainted milk, so the start of the trial on Friday was seen as a breakthrough. Other courts across the country have accepted such cases, but trials have not started.
“Being the first case held by a Chinese court, more such cases may have a chance to be heard in the near future,” Beijing-based human rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong (許志永) told the China Daily newspaper.
The report said Ma Xuexin of Henan Province was suing Sanlu Group Co, the dairy company at the heart of the scandal, for compensation after his 20-month-old boy fell sick.
The report said the trial would continue on Dec. 9 at the Shunyi District People’s Court in Beijing after Judge Zhang Nan asked both sides for more evidence.
A man answering the phone at the court yesterday said he knew nothing about the trial.
China on Tuesday executed a dairy farmer and a milk salesman for their roles in the scheme to boost profits by lacing milk powder with the industrial chemical melamine. Nineteen other people have been convicted and received lesser sentences.
Melamine can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.
Ma told the court his son suffered from a kidney stone after consuming milk powder made by the now-defunct Sanlu, which was one of China’s biggest dairies before the scandal.
Sanlu and a local Longhua supermarket that sold the packets, however, told the court they should not be held responsible because the government already has set up a compensation plan for victims, the China Daily reported.
Families were offered a one-time payout — ranging from 2,000 yuan (US$293) to 200,000 yuan, depending on the severity of the case — to not pursue lawsuits related to the scandal, lawyers said at the time.
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