A Hebei court officially accepted a compensation lawsuit yesterday filed by an alleged victim of the melamine-tainted baby formula, the first known case accepted since the scandal unfolded in September.
The plaintiff, a Beijing resident surnamed Li, has demanded 31,000 yuan (HK$35,200) in compensation for his one-year-old child, who developed kidney stones after drinking milk made from Sanlu baby formula powder for several months.
A Xinhua report cited Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court spokesman Wang Wei as saying the lawsuit had been officially accepted. Shijiazhuang is where the dairy was based before declaring bankruptcy.
State-owned Sanlu was one of 22 firms whose products were found contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, a substance usually used in plastics and glue. Melamine is added to boost the nitrogen content of substandard food, allowing it to pass protein-level tests.
At least six children died from the tainted products and 300,000 were made ill.
Five similar suits against Sanlu were filed with the same court at the same time but demanded higher compensation. They have yet to be officially accepted, though, as court fees have not been paid.
The applications include one by a family demanding 400,000 yuan for the death of their baby and another from a family asking for more than 300,000 yuan for severe kidney failure in an infant.