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Letter to the editor

A lawyer's pet cause

Florida law treats animals as property. One woman fights to change that.

By SCOTT BARANCIK
Published August 4, 2007

Tampa Lawyer Jennifer A. Dietz sits with her dogs in the backyard of her sisters Tampa home Friday morning, 8/3/07. She picked up the dog next to her from a kill shelter in Gainesville the night before and has yet to name the pup, her nine year old dog George sits in the foreground. Dietz is one of only a handful of bay area lawyers who specialize in animal law, a swiftly-growing practice area that includes everything from setting up pet trusts to filing suit against negligent veterinarians and dog groomers.

[Zach Boyden-Holmes | Times]

Bruce Wisz came home to a horrific scene. ¶ Blinx, the short-haired kitten he'd nursed with a baby bottle, was pinned under the garage door, his spine and hind legs crushed. By some cruel miracle, the black cat was still conscious. ¶ With Spring Hill neighbors watching in silence, Wisz and his teenage son freed Blinx, and sped off in a truck to the nearest veterinary clinic, only to find it had closed. The 47-year-old airplane-parts clerk decided that the most compassionate act was one he couldn't bear to perform. A kind stranger agreed to kill Blinx for him. ¶ Months later, Mitchell Wisz discovered a possible flaw in how the garage's automated door-opener was installed. "Dad," he said, "this didn't have to happen."

America's affair with lawsuits ends with their pets. It's not just because we feel silly discussing "Mr. Sneaky" or "Buttons" before a judge and jury. Florida and most other states consider animals property. Dollar awards are scant when animals are the victim, and few lawyers want to get involved.

Jennifer Dietz is trying to change that mindset.

The 42-year-old chairman and co-founder of the Florida Bar's fledgling Animal Law Committee believes pets and their owners deserve enhanced legal status, expert counsel and, where appropriate, a pleasing chew-toy. Last month, Dietz quit her Tampa law-firm job and became one of a few Floridians to start a full-time animal-law practice.

Her new case load includes Wisz, a St. Petersburg woman whose boyfriend stole her $1,000 Pomeranian after a fight, a Palm Beach client whose horse was exercised to death by its trainer, the owners of several dogs that died or came close to it after chewing a defective bone, and a Clearwater couple whose dog is on Pinellas County's death row for a bite they say was provoked.

Dietz, who charges $125 an hour, says she enjoyed defending businesses against workers' compensation claims and other employee disputes, most recently at Ullman Bursa Hoffman & Ragano in Tampa. But she didn't feel she was helping society. By contrast, "When I work on a case involving a UPS driver running over a dog, I feel like I'm getting justice for the animal and the poor people that lost her."

In an interview at her temporary home-office this week, surrounded by pets including a mutt named George, Dietz told her story. A University of Florida law school alum who would love to run the U.S. Humane Society, she is outraged by the dog-fighting allegations against Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, sickened by the treatment of greyhound-race dogs, and sorry she can't beat "with a stick" the trainer who killed an Orlando horse.

In an ideal world, Dietz says, divorce courts would award custody based on a pet's best interests, negligent veterinarians would have to pay for inflicting emotional distress, and state legislatures would assign animals a legal status somewhere between "property" and "human." Reform has been glacial in the state legislatures, so Dietz makes the most of her legal tool chest.

Last month, she convinced a judge that allowing animal control officers to unilaterally issue death sentences was unconstitutional, and in so doing freed a Nokomis dog from death row. Though courts rarely allow pet owners to collect damages for emotional distress, Dietz seeks them anyway, in part because it's a good starting point for settlement negotiations. When process servers were unable to put Margaret Lyons' lawsuit in the hands of her Pomeranian-stealing boyfriend's hands, Dietz raised the heat by seeking criminal charges.

She may not win them all. Lyons' ex-boyfriend, for example, can argue that he paid for Parker's purchase and entered Lyons' apartment using a key she'd given him. But Dietz thinks her chances are good all around.

As for Bruce Wisz's cat, Dietz located the company that installed his automated garage-door opener and says its insurer is "taking this pretty seriously."

Have a favorite movie about the law, or another you hate? E-mail the titles and your thoughts to barancik@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 3, 2007, 23:08:31]