A court in China is hearing the first civil compensation claim by a parent whose child fell ill during the tainted milk scandal last year.
The tainted milk was sold by 22 companies, including the now bankrupt San Lu Group, which was part-owned by New Zealand dairy co-operative Fonterra.
Ma Xuexin, of Henan province, is suing San Lu and a supermarket for $US8,000.
His young son is one of hundreds of thousands of infants who became sick after drinking baby milk formula laced with the industrial chemical melamine, the BBC reports.
Two people were executed on Tuesday for their part in the scheme. Nineteen others have been jailed in connection with the case, which resulted in the deaths of at least six children.
Melamine is used in the making of plastics and fertilisers. If ingested, it can cause kidney failure and kidney stones.
Investigations have shown that dairy producers watered down their milk to make supplies go further, then added melamine so that it appeared to have a higher protein content.
In December 2008, the Chinese government ordered 22 firms implicated in the scandal to pay a total of 1.1 billion yuan ($US16.1 million) to the hundreds of thousands of families involved.
However, some families say the compensation is inadequate and are turning to the courts.
'Breakthrough' case
According to state-run China Daily, Mr Ma told the hearing that his 20-month-old son had developed a kidney stone after being fed hundreds of packets of San Lu-brand milk formula.
As well as the compensation, he wants his son's medical expenses to be paid by the state-administered milk compensation fund until the boy reaches adulthood, the newspaper reported.
Beijing-based lawyer Xu Zhiyong, who is handling about 200 such cases, told the BBC that the start of this hearing represented a breakthrough.
Mr Xu said that the cases were being handled individually because the courts had rejected an attempt to sue for compensation as a group.
So far six cases had been accepted by courts throughout China and Mr Ma's was the first to be heard, he said.
The trial began on Friday at a court in north-east Beijing and continues on 9 December.
