For handing down a ruling that allowed the world to see what goes on inside the laboratories of Covance, the world’s largest animal-testing company, His Honour Judge Peter Langan has been named PETA’s “Person of the Year”.

After an investigator from PETA US documented that workers at a Vienna, Virginia, Covance laboratory were striking, choking, taunting and deliberately tormenting terrified monkeys, Covance sought an injunction to prevent PETA Europe from showing the video footage. But Langan dismissed the case and called the arguments against granting an interim injunction “cumulative and, in my judgment, overwhelming”. PETA Europe was awarded £50,000 in court costs.

Presented with the 28-minute undercover video, Langan characterised it as “highly disturbing” and further commented on the “rough manner in which the animals [are] handled and the bleakness of the surroundings in which they are kept”, matters which, he said, “cry out for explanation”. The video footage shows multiple violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which PETA has detailed in its 272-page complaint to the US Department of Agriculture.

Among the violations that PETA US documented at the laboratory were that animals with broken limbs were deprived of veterinary care, sick monkeys were jammed into restraint tubes, baby monkeys suffered daily nose bleeds caused by over-sized dosing tubes, and Covance failed to provide the monkeys with socialization and enrichment, as required by the AWA. Covance publicly claims to treat the animals with “care and respect”. In comparing that claim with the reality exposed by PETA US’ investigation, Langan stated it “is a comparison between two different worlds”. His Honour went on to say that to the extent that Covance “has fostered a misleading impression, PETA Europe is entitled to correct it publicly. … [I]n this case the balance comes down in favour of the truth being told. … As there should be ‘truth in advertising’, so there should be truth in publicity. The public should not be misled”.

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