Lawsuits Filed Over Dog Shootings Highlight Growing Field of Animal Law
-
-
- EthicalVegan
- added this
Suits filed over dog shootings highlight growing field of animal law
A Maryland couple sues the sheriff's office after their Labrador is shot by deputies. Legal experts say such cases are on the rise as pets are coming to be viewed as more than property — at home and in court.
By Lorraine Mirabella, Baltimore Sun
January 2, 2011
Reporting from Baltimore —
Sheriff's deputies knocked on Roger and Sandra Jenkins' front door early one Saturday to serve a court paper to the couple's teenage son. Within minutes, a chaotic scene unfolded, and the family's chocolate Labrador retriever had been shot by one of the deputies and had collapsed bleeding in the snow.
The dog survived, but its owners say it is permanently disabled. The couple sued the Frederick County Sheriff's Office in October, alleging reckless endangerment and infliction of emotional distress.
The case highlights the rapidly evolving field of animal law, which is growing as people insist that pets are not property, but part of the family.
"The common law is that a dog is just chattel — a piece of property that's easily replaced," said Rebekah Lusk, an associate attorney with the Thienel Law Firm in Columbia, Md., who handles animal law cases and represents Roger and Sandra Jenkins. "People focusing on animal law are saying the courts need to see animals as not just a replacement piece of property."
Maryland lawmakers approved a measure in 2009 allowing pet owners to set up trusts for their animals. An owner can designate a trustee to oversee the care of the animal upon the owner's death in the same way that a parent would create a trust for children.
Custody cases involving pets have been filed too. In July, a Calvert County Circuit Court judge ordered a divorcing couple to share custody of their dog.
And law schools are seeing greater interest in the animal law field. Seminars address animal welfare, pet trusts, veterinary malpractice, endangered species protections, 1st Amendment issues, pet-custody disputes, the link between animal cruelty and violent behavior, and animals' legal standing.
"Judges are no longer laughing these issues out of court," said Alan Nemeth, an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore who teaches a seminar in animal law. "It's become more legitimate, even in divorce cases. That's a big change, and it has been happening across the country."
Courts in some jurisdictions have begun to make a link between domestic violence and cruelty to animals, said Susan Hankin, an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Law. "If someone goes to court to get a protective order, it includes not just the victim and her children, but her pets can be included."
Hankin, who teaches an animal-law seminar that includes estate planning, custody and service animals, said interest in the topic was growing.
"There's an increasing recognition that animals play a role in our life that's different from property," she said. "It really includes a wide range of legal territory.... You can learn a lot of the areas of law by looking at the relationship between people and their companion animals."
In the Jenkins' case, according to the lawsuit filed in Frederick County Circuit Court, two deputy sheriffs went to the family's home in Taneytown, Md., in January to serve a court paper on their 18-year-old son, who no longer lived with his parents and was facing a drug-possession charge.
Roger Jenkins says he told a deputy that he needed to put the family's dogs away before he allowed him in the house. The lawsuit says that while Jenkins was letting the dogs outside to put them in a kennel, his Labrador, Brandi, noticed the unfamiliar vehicles in the driveway and began barking.
That prompted an officer to shoot the dog in the leg and chest without warning, according to the lawsuit. "Characteristic of the Labrador retriever breed of dog, Brandi is very friendly, not aggressive, and posed no threat to the deputies," the lawsuit states. "Her natural instinct, as is any dog's instinct, is to announce the presence of unfamiliar people on her property by barking."
The Frederick County Sheriff's Office denies liability and says the actions were legally justified, according to a document filed with the court in December.
The incident followed the July 2008 shooting deaths of two Labrador retrievers in Prince George's County, Md., during a raid by a police SWAT team and county narcotics officers at the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo. Police mistakenly thought his wife was involved in drug trafficking.
A lawsuit filed by Calvo against the state of Maryland is pending.
A Maryland couple sues the sheriff's office after their Labrador is shot by deputies. Legal experts say such cases are on the rise as pets are coming to be viewed as more than property — at home and in court.
By Lorraine Mirabella, Baltimore Sun
January 2, 2011
Reporting from Baltimore —
Sheriff's deputies knocked on Roger and Sandra Jenkins' front door early one Saturday to serve a court paper to the couple's teenage son. Within minutes, a chaotic scene unfolded, and the family's chocolate Labrador retriever had been shot by one of the deputies and had collapsed bleeding in the snow.
The dog survived, but its owners say it is permanently disabled. The couple sued the Frederick County Sheriff's Office in October, alleging reckless endangerment and infliction of emotional distress.
The case highlights the rapidly evolving field of animal law, which is growing as people insist that pets are not property, but part of the family.
"The common law is that a dog is just chattel — a piece of property that's easily replaced," said Rebekah Lusk, an associate attorney with the Thienel Law Firm in Columbia, Md., who handles animal law cases and represents Roger and Sandra Jenkins. "People focusing on animal law are saying the courts need to see animals as not just a replacement piece of property."
Maryland lawmakers approved a measure in 2009 allowing pet owners to set up trusts for their animals. An owner can designate a trustee to oversee the care of the animal upon the owner's death in the same way that a parent would create a trust for children.
Custody cases involving pets have been filed too. In July, a Calvert County Circuit Court judge ordered a divorcing couple to share custody of their dog.
And law schools are seeing greater interest in the animal law field. Seminars address animal welfare, pet trusts, veterinary malpractice, endangered species protections, 1st Amendment issues, pet-custody disputes, the link between animal cruelty and violent behavior, and animals' legal standing.
"Judges are no longer laughing these issues out of court," said Alan Nemeth, an adjunct professor at the University of Baltimore who teaches a seminar in animal law. "It's become more legitimate, even in divorce cases. That's a big change, and it has been happening across the country."
Courts in some jurisdictions have begun to make a link between domestic violence and cruelty to animals, said Susan Hankin, an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Law. "If someone goes to court to get a protective order, it includes not just the victim and her children, but her pets can be included."
Hankin, who teaches an animal-law seminar that includes estate planning, custody and service animals, said interest in the topic was growing.
"There's an increasing recognition that animals play a role in our life that's different from property," she said. "It really includes a wide range of legal territory.... You can learn a lot of the areas of law by looking at the relationship between people and their companion animals."
In the Jenkins' case, according to the lawsuit filed in Frederick County Circuit Court, two deputy sheriffs went to the family's home in Taneytown, Md., in January to serve a court paper on their 18-year-old son, who no longer lived with his parents and was facing a drug-possession charge.
Roger Jenkins says he told a deputy that he needed to put the family's dogs away before he allowed him in the house. The lawsuit says that while Jenkins was letting the dogs outside to put them in a kennel, his Labrador, Brandi, noticed the unfamiliar vehicles in the driveway and began barking.
That prompted an officer to shoot the dog in the leg and chest without warning, according to the lawsuit. "Characteristic of the Labrador retriever breed of dog, Brandi is very friendly, not aggressive, and posed no threat to the deputies," the lawsuit states. "Her natural instinct, as is any dog's instinct, is to announce the presence of unfamiliar people on her property by barking."
The Frederick County Sheriff's Office denies liability and says the actions were legally justified, according to a document filed with the court in December.
The incident followed the July 2008 shooting deaths of two Labrador retrievers in Prince George's County, Md., during a raid by a police SWAT team and county narcotics officers at the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo. Police mistakenly thought his wife was involved in drug trafficking.
A lawsuit filed by Calvo against the state of Maryland is pending.
-
- groups:
- Veganism, Animal Rights = Veganism
-
-
Varex_Sythe
-
In all honesty, those sheriff's officers are lucky. I have never viewed a dog as property that can be easily replaced. Each dog I've had has been a member of the family and has not been unnecessarily aggressive to people (meaning that they have been aggressive on occasion, but only towards someone who posed a legitimate threat).
Had that been my dog that was shot for being harmless, and had that my dog died, I would be going to prison for a very long time. My dog is like a child to me, and like protecting a child, my response when it comes to protecting my dog when it is threatened in such a manner will range anywhere from severely crippling to killing whatever is a threat to my dog to ensure his or her safety.
- 1 year ago
-
Varex_Sythe
