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Sunday, September 03, 2006

Law - "New Breed of Lawyer Gives Every Dog His Day in Court "

The NY Times has a story today by Warren St. John on "pet lawyers" that begins:

FOR pigeons in New York City, Bobby, Bertha and Sparky had it pretty good. After being injured in Central Park each was rescued by Gela Kline and Al Streit — founders of a group called Pigeon People — and given a home in the couple’s rent-stabilized apartment on the Upper West Side, where for years the birds passed the time cooing and making music by pecking the keys of a toy piano.

A few years ago, however, the building went co-op, and the new landlords wanted the couple — and their birds — out. They sued to evict, citing an old city ordinance that outlawed chickens, ducks, cows “or any pigeon except Antwerp or homing pigeons” in a New York apartment. Ms. Kline and Mr. Streit thought they were doomed.

Then they called Maddy Tarnofsky, pet lawyer, who quickly spotted a weakness in the landlord’s case: How exactly, she wondered, could the landlord prove that Bobby, Bertha and Sparky weren’t Antwerp or homing pigeons after all?

She soon found one bird veterinarian who would testify that there was no biological difference between Antwerp pigeons and the couple’s birds — or any other pigeons — and another who would testify that the birds could probably be taught to home. The co-op’s lawyer had no response, and on April 27, after four years of legal battles, a housing court judge threw out the suit, allowing the couple and their pigeons to stay put.

More from the story:
Not so long ago there were only a few pet lawyers like Ms. Tarnofsky, and they occupied the margins of the legal world. Because pets are viewed by the law as mere property in most states, and therefore worth only what the owners paid for them, pet lawyers worked with little hope of recovering damages and were motivated solely by their love of animals.

But in recent years, as pet owners have struggled to negotiate pet ownership in modern life, and as society has grappled with questions of the value and status of its domesticated animals, animal law has become a growing specialty in the legal world. A decade ago only a few law schools taught animal law. Today 70 do, including Harvard, Columbia and Duke. In fall 2004 the American Bar Association formed its first committee on animal law, which many say legitimized the discipline.

This ILB entry from Sept. 16, 2005 quoted from a still available piece from Legal Times titled "Law schools see a growing interest in representing creatures that can't speak for themselves."

And who can forget the Supreme Court opinion by Justice Boehm earlier this year in the case of Butchie the Dog? (If you have forgotten, see ILB entries here, here (where the Indianapolis Star reports "A dog named Butchie is at the center of an Indiana Supreme Court ruling reaffirming the right of police to enter outdoor private property and seize evidence that is within public view.") and here.)

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 3, 2006 09:48 AM
Posted to General Law Related