The U.S. Justice Department last year went to court in Florida in a civil case it billed as a no-frills application of long-established food and drug law. The government’s legal team asked a judge to shut down a pharmacy’s veterinary business.

On behalf of the Food and Drug Administration, DOJ sued Franck’s Lab Inc. a year after the pharmacy acknowledged a math error in a dosage killed nearly two dozen horses at a polo tournament. The mass deaths generated international press attention.