The PETA Foundation’s legal team consists of experienced lawyers who litigate and engage in other legal advocacy for animals. We bring lawsuits against those who abuse or exploit animals, and we work to protect the ability of animal advocates to access government records documenting animal abuse and to exercise their constitutional rights.
Explore the legal case summaries on this page to learn about some of our important cases. Whether you’re a legal professional, a student, or a supporter, these case summaries offer valuable insights into our precedent-setting work and the animal law landscape.
Nellie’s Free Range Eggs’ labels contrast drastically with reality. PETA Foundation lawyers filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of consumers who were misled.
PETA Foundation lawyers sued NIH for blocking comments containing keywords critical of animal experimentation from the agency’s social media pages.
PETA alleged that Shore Transit’s advertising policy violated the First and 14th amendments due to its viewpoint discrimination.
OHSU went to extreme lengths in refusing to comply with public records requests for videos and photos from experiments on prairie voles.
PETA Foundation lawyers filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against USDA on behalf of 30 barn owls at Johns Hopkins University.
The PETA Foundation’s lawsuit asked Monterey Zoo to stop using canes to threaten and control elephants in violation of state laws.
PETA Foundation lawyers exposed Tri-State Zoological Park’s “flagrant and persistent violations of the Endangered Species Act.”
The PETA Foundation believes FSIS should revise its rules by removing animal-raising claims from its label-approving process for food items.
PETA filed suit against Wildlife in Need and Tim Stark for violating the federal Endangered Species Act.
PETA Foundation lawyers filed a lawsuit against UW and its WaNPRC for its culture of secrecy around their use of primates in experiments.
PETA submitted public records requests for UMass’ protocols, photos, and videos that expose the gruesome experiments in Agnès Lacreuse’s lab.
LA Metro rejected PETA’s bus ads under its unconstitutional ad policy—which amounted to a prior restraint on speech and viewpoint discrimination.
PETA Foundation lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of a consumer who accuses Organic Valley of making false claims about animal care.
PETA filed suit against NIMH and its parent agencies due to their failure to respond to our Freedom of Information Act requests.
Stony Brook University withheld public records related to animal research in violation of the New York Freedom of Information Law.
“Ag-gag” laws threaten to prioritize the animal agriculture industry’s profits over the health and safety of the humans and animals harmed by its failings.
PETA challenged NIH in a lawsuit due to the agency’s continued funding of experiments on animals that attempt to find treatments for sepsis in humans.
The USDA cited Waccatee Zoo for over 100 violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act. PETA alleged that it had “harmed” and “harassed” animals.