Originally this was not a Blog Posting but it was an email I sent to friends in late December 2004. It is about the hysteria surrounding Animal Pets and their Owners and the Landslide of Law Suits that were raging through our Courts at that time.
Where does multiplication come into play here? It’s because there are statistics sited below and I am certain, if I went to the time and effort to update those statistics, they would have multiplied several times over. I don’t think for a minute that we have done anything other than become even more fanatically attached to our Pets since 2004.
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The original Blog Posting was inspired by an article in the Time Magazine December 13th, 2004 issue. I know you have that issue of Time Magazine still laying around your house. Pick it up and go to page 46 to check out the hard to believe information quoted in this Blog Posting.
It is sad to say there are still a few of you that think I make-up some of my Blogs no matter how often I try to reassure you by saying...Would I kid u?
I know some of you have pets that you love dearly. I know some of you will send me hate mail because I think that spending $300,000 and 5 years in court to "earn" a $39,000 judgment in a doggoned law suit for a pet that the court valued at $10 is stupid.
One of my friends from my Vietnam days had the right idea. When one of his many dogs died, he did not go to court. Instead he went to his tool shed and got a shovel and he buried Ole Rover in the backyard.
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Woof, Woof, Your Honor
It's no joke. Animal lawsuits are gaining respect as pet owners
seek justice for the ones they love
By ANITA
HAMILTON
Dec. 13, 2004
(This
Article is Abridged and Yellow Highlighted
by Fella. I also took out the actual names of actual people. I’m not sure why I
did that. Maybe I was afraid of getting sued by the Living Actual People or the
Descendents of Deceased Actual People or the Next-Door Neighbors of Living or
Deceased Actual People. Heck, I’m so Law Suit Nervous, I even changed the names
of the Dogs.)
With his sad brown eyes and soft, floppy ears, Fido, a 2-year-old Dachshund, is the kind of dog that's hard to resist. Just ask his co-owner Sally Derr, a music director at a rock station. After splitting up with her live-in boyfriend, Peter Fernerk, just before Christmas last year, Derr and Fernerk exchanged Fido informally every week. Then, last August, according to a lawsuit filed by Derr, Fernerk abruptly ended the arrangement and kept Fido.
Instead of giving up or just
getting a new dog, Derr joined the growing
ranks of animal lovers who are filing lawsuits over their pets. After
consulting a lawyer, who says he has handled about 100 animal-related cases in the
past four years, Derr filed suit in late October. She has already won at
least a temporary victory. Last month a superior court judge ordered the
exchanges to resume immediately, pending a final ruling. (Fernerk declined to
comment on the case.) About seeing Fido for the first time in three months, Derr
says, "His tail was wiggling out of control. I just hugged him and started
to cry."
While going to court to resolve a
pet-custody dispute may
seem extreme, it is just one of the legal options available to protect
animals and the people who care for them. Veterinary-malpractice suits, pet-cruelty cases and even
landlord-tenant disputes over animals are reaching the courts as well.
In Toledo, Peggy Sue, a newspaper columnist, has called for legislation
that would ensure better conditions at dog kennels after her doggie, Hercules
died, allegedly at a kennel.
Some 23 states now allow enforceable pet trusts, in which people set
aside money in their will for the care of their pet. And when it comes to
animal cruelty, more than
40 states have felony-level charges that virtually ensure jail time for serious
offenders. "The courts are beginning to realize that the bond
between humans and animals is very powerful," says Suem Now, a lawyer and
animal-rights advocate who has written two books and taught a Harvard Law
School course on the subject.
Some pet cases have reaped
surprisingly large awards. Ashley Slook, won a $39,000
jury award last February after Mongo, her mixed-breed Chihuahua valued by the court at $10, died just days
after coming home from a two-month stay in a pet clinic. Although the suit took five years, cost more than $300,000 in
legal fees and is on appeal, Slook says it was all worth it: "I
can't get my baby back, but I did get justice."
Once the domain solely of
activists, animal law has steadily gained
respect among law schools and legal scholars since 2000, when Now’s
first book provided an academic argument for
granting legal rights to animals. Some 40
law schools are now offering courses on the topic.
"I’m sorry Mr. Simpson. We would like to grant you a speedy trial, which I’m pretty sure is called for somewhere in our Constitution, but the courts are full to the brim with animal rights cases. After all, animals are people too."
Would I kid u?
Smartfella
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