We’ve just won a prolonged, drawn out expensive court case because we were the victims of a dognapping. The law, the courts the lawyers made it possible for this woman to sue us without a shred of evidence. Our costs? Over $10,000. The emotional cost, there’s no amount of money that could make that okay.
This woman sold us a dog. We had a witnessed sale, a copy of the cancelled chceck, all the dog’s papers, his adoption and chip transfer papers and all his belongings.
She asked to see him 4 months after the sale. We agreed to a spot outsid a local eatery. She came along, knelt down, released his leash picked him up and ran. Local patrons inside and out chased her as did I. She had her arm in a cast and was clutching the dog so tightly he was screaming and biting her chin. My husband ran out of the restaurant and also gave chase. She made it around the corner and everyone had swartmed her. I tried to reach in to get the dog and she bit me. One of the men who came to my aide managed to get the dog away from her but she kneed him, scratched him and tore his shirt. By then the police were there as were the EMT’s. They treated her dog bite and my human bite. All this was documented in the police report. She stated she took the dog she had sold us because she missed him. She also said she was on drugs.
We all signed off pressing charges. I had been through 3 years of expensive court for my daughter’s divorce and didn’t want to spend another 3 years trying this case.. I live up North. This all took place down South. I didn’t want to have to fly back and forth. I have/ had an extremely ill invalid Mother at the time and couldn’t leave her. A week later we got lawyers papers saying fromour attacker the dog was worth $2000 and we owed her treble damages and return of the dog. My Mother since passed away. She was on the decline during the 2 years we ended fighting this. So, despite not one shred of evidence on her part , despite the fact she was the criminal,we had to fight this out. There was mediation, depositions. Again, we were flying in for cases that were postponed over and over agai. All the witnesses were deposed. Police witnessed for me. We had to hire an animal expert to testify as to the value of the dog. Just a note, a dog is property and thus has no assigned value unles it’s a champion dog.
In court our attacker claimed all the witnesses, the police and my lawyer were all lying. She claimed we offered to adopt her . She’s a 50+ Dominican with 3 pages of DUI and a past record of solicitation. (we had a detective check her out once we were in the process). She claimed we wanted her to join our fashion line. I have no fashion line. I haven’t worked since my Mom took ill as I was taking care of her. I only do charity work. She claimed we asked her to move in with us. A stranger with a police record.
It seems the system allows anyone to sue for anything. I asked my lawyer what would have happened if she claimed she was pregnant by my husband. He said he’d be getting tested. Seriously!. That’s our sytem.
She is now suing us again! She signed off one initial battery but is claiming civil battery, despite the fact we have the police report showing who the aggresor was, despite the fact we have witnesses to everything she did. She is now claiming I punched her in the face, dragged her by her hair and that my husband tried to break her arm. She claims the man she kneed also tried to break her arm and is suing him as well. So she is claiming injuries received while in the process of stealing. So, if someone stole your car and injured themselves in the process-you’d be in trouble? Seems that way.
I would be hard pressed to believe this story if I wasn’t living it.
I just read an article about men who have been supporting children for years when DNA proved the children weren’t theirs. The courts held them to the support despite that fact. Even if the Mother backed them up on this information. The courts insisted they continue to pay. Our system at work?
I have lost all faith in the system. I do not understand why the term frivolous lawsuit isn’t applied to cases like mine. We are hoping to get or court costs but there is no guarentee. We are amazed that she can now start all over again with another baseless case. We have our own personal stalker. We never leave our dogs alone. We are paranoid about leaving and entering our home. We are being victimized over and over again. Our mistake for buying a dog from a stranger. But the biggest error or insult is that to courts allow victims to be victimized when they should be protecting the innocent..
