What Happens to Rover When the Marriage is Over? by Patti Lawson

Author:Patti Lawson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2016-03-19T16:00:00+00:00

14. 176 Cal.App.4th 1502, 97 Cal.Rptr.3d 555 Cal.App. 4 Dist., 2009.

15. McMahon v. Craig, No G040324, slip op at 2 (Cal. Ct. App. July 31, 2009).

16. Ark. Code. Ann. §16-114-201(2).

17. Heiligmann v. Rose, 81 Tex. 222, 16 S.W. 931 (Tex.1891).

18. Henning, et al. v. Nicklow, Slip Copy, 2009 WL 3642739 (N.D. Ind. Oct. 30, 2009) (NO. 1:08-CV-180).

Chapter 7

DOG BITE!

(Do Dogs Really Get One Free Bite?)

Labrador retrievers top the list almost every year as one of the best choices for a family dog. They are loving, intelligent, active, and loyal. So when Patrick and Amber Sanders chose a yellow labrador puppy for their family pet, they had no idea what was ahead of them.

Until that fateful June 2012 afternoon, Phineas lived a normal puppyhood and grew into a beautiful three-year-old cherished family member. On that day, Phineas was playing in the backyard with Lexi Sanders and her seven-year-old neighborhood friend. The friend fell on Phineas and claimed that he bit her. Subsequently, the girl’s mother said that Phineas had bitten the girl on two previous occasions that had never been reported. The girl was taken to the hospital and the “bite” was photographed and treated.

After the animal control authorities were involved, Phineas was seized and a sixteen-month ordeal began. In July of 2012, Phineas was sentenced to death by the town’s mayor, Gary Brown. He ruled that Phineas was a “dangerous dog” under the town’s Dangerous Dog Ordinance because of the unsubstantiated allegations that he’d bitten before this incident. The Sanders appealed and hired local attorney Joe Simon. Not an experienced animal attorney, but convinced of Phineas’s innocence, Simon took the case pro bono (for free), and it became his mission to get Phineas exonerated and back home with his family.

As the protracted legal battle inched along, Phineas was first housed in the local fire station basement, where he was not getting adequate care or exercise. Mayor Brown, who had not only ordered the death sentence and deemed Phineas “vicious,” also vigorously denied these accusations and claimed that he’d walked Phineas on many occasions. The firefighter who disputed this was fired. Why the mayor would walk a dog he deemed dangerous and vicious was a question that was never answered, and not one witness had ever seen Brown walking Phineas.

Phineas was next moved to a local kennel, where he escaped through a hole in the fence. Finally, a local vet took Phineas in and the family was allowed to visit. Things did not quiet down, though. Hearing after hearing was held and rescheduled with no results. This small Missouri town was deeply divided, and the story spread across the nation and the world thanks to social media. Billboards went up all over the area with a giant picture of Phineas pleading, “Don’t let Salem, Missouri, kill me.”

Attorney Simon did his research and filed hundreds of pages of motions and memorandums to the court. He interviewed witnesses and spent hours with the Sanders family and as much time with Phineas as allowed. Emotions ran high, with the local citizens pitted against one another.

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