Arkansas to receive $3.9M from settlement with Family Dollar over rat-infested warehouse

Arkansas will receive $3.9 million from Family Dollar Stores to settle a lawsuit filed over a rodent-infested distribution center and the sale of consumer products from that facility, Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office announced Thursday.

Arkansas negotiated a $5.5 million settlement with Family Dollar, with $1.6 million of that suspended.

Griffin’s predecessor, Leslie Rutledge, sued Family Dollar and its-then parent company Dollar Tree Inc. in state court 2022 over the discovery of more than 1,000 rodents in the facility that prompted the chain to recall items sold at its stores throughout the South.

“Arkansans—particularly those who rely on neighborhood discount stores for everyday essentials—are entitled to products that are safe, lawfully sold, and honestly marketed,” Griffin said in a news release. “My office will continue to enforce our consumer protection laws to safeguard public health.”

Family Dollar in 2024 pleaded guilty in federal court and agreed to pay nearly $42 million over the unsanitary conditions at the warehouse. Arkansas suspended $1.6 million of its settlement with the company due to the company’s cooperation with the Justice Department, Griffin’s office said.

The company admitted that its center shipped products regulated by the Food and Drug Administration to more than 400 stores in Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee. 

An FDA inspection in 2022 revealed live and dead rodents throughout the facility. Family Dollar had known of the rat infestation since at least 2020, according to Arkansas’ lawsuit. The FDA determined that more than 3,400 rodents were removed from the center between March 2021 and January 2022, according to Griffin’s office.

Dollar Tree last year sold its Family Dollar businesses to two private equity firms for more than $1 billion.

The West Memphis facility closed in 2022 but reopened in 2024 after renovations and is now operated as a Dollar Tree distribution center, according to the court filing. 

A spokesperson for Family Dollar did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment Thursday afternoon.