DMK's Appeal Denied - Lawsuit Against Leading German Dairy Company DMK Should Proceed in Israeli Court

Tel Aviv, Israel, March 29, 2016 (Newswire.com) - The lawsuit filed against the major German dairy company, Deutsches Milchkontor GmbH (hereafter: DMK)  is now in progress after a decision was made by the lower court to deny the appeal submitted by the defendant– and found that there are enough ground for the trial to commence proceedings in Israeli court. The defendant was given two months to form a statement of defence in a suit filed following the Remedia affair in Israel over a decade ago – which resulted in the death of two babies and severe heart and nervous system injuries of 23 more.   

DMK, owner of MILRAM, Oldenburger, Golden Cheese, and the Osterland brand among others, is facing a 10 million dollar lawsuit which was filed In 2012, by Gideon Lansberger, against the German baby food producer Humana, that has since merged with the big German dairy company, DMK, following the court ruling in the Remedia affair. Lansberger filed suit claiming compansations for immediate and collateral damages suffered as a direct result of the baby food failure. Since then, for the past three years, the DMK had filed appeals and delay request over every development in the case.   

The scandal exploded in November 2003, when two Israeli babies died and 23 more were hospitalized with severe – and irreversible - damage to their nervous systems and hearts after having been fed Remedia non-dairy vegetarian formula that didn't have vitamin B1, an essential ingredient for development.

In 2013, a decade after the Remedia affair, The lower court had ruled that Remedia was not in on the decision to omit Vitamin B1.

Judge Lea Lev On of the Petah Tikva Magistrates Court explained while reading her ruling that "all agree" the main burden of guilt for the tragedy lies with Humana – the German company that actually manufactured the baby formula in question, which had been marketed in Israel by Remedia. The extraction of the vitamin from the production process had not been brought before the Remedia people, Lev On summed up.

Humana had been guilty of a series of "grave failures," the judge said.

Remedia's CEO at the time of the scandal, Gideon Landsberger, was acquitted of negligent homicide and other charges, among them injury through negligence, obstruction of justice, an act liable to spread disease and more – to the lesser offense of violating standards, Landsberger agreed to a plea bargain.