Florida Animal Legal Questions

IMHO, most of what is going on here is more issues of managing relations with your neighbors that may require practical rather than legal solutions, but there certainly are legal risks.  First, there will be some sort of city or county local ordinances on barking or nuisance dogs and/or noise ordinances, and you should familiarize yourself with them as neighbors may well make complaints to Animal Control or Code Enforcement, and there is a always the risk they could consult a civil attorney as to civil nuisance claims.  If you are renting, complaints to your landlord can easily result in the landlord deciding not to renew the lease and potentially in the landlord taking action prior to the expiration of the lease.  Finally, if you have neighbors who hate your dogs, you need to beware that if they accidentally get out, you are almost certainly going to be reported for the violation.  On the practical side of things, while you may know from the dogs conduct inside the house the dogs true temperament, all your neighbors know is that the the large dogs are of breeds that most people feel are dangerous and exhibit what the neighbors perceive as aggessive barking when both are in the back yard at the same time together.  As a practical matter, unless you are watching the dogs in the yard all the time, you have no first hand knowledge what is going on back there and if your response to neighbor's concerns is that they are lying, when they could be telling the truth, this is making things worse and not better.  If you are leaving the dogs outside for hours when you are not at home, it is always possible they are barking for longer periods.  No matter what the issue, it is always a bad thing to be involved in a hostile situation with your neighbors and it is well worth going the extra mile to keep things "neighborly" in the long run.  Possible solutions involve introducing neighbors to the dogs in a neutral situation, asking them nicely to go outside at a time when you can observe the dogs and what they are doing, even putting cameras in the yard so you can monitor dogs behavior, and finally making sure your fence is absolutely secure and there is no possibility the dogs can jump the fence.  Finally, as the owner of several Pitty/Staffy mixed breed rescue dogs, I know how sweet their natural temperaments are, but they have a terrible reputation, IMHO mostly resulting from by cruel and neglectful owners who mistreat and abandon them and/or good hearted but inexperienced folks who fail to appropriately train and socialize them with other dogs.  Good owners can be breed ambassadors by making all interactions with their dogs an opportunity for folks to see their true colors and sweet natures.  Best of luck.        ... Read More

I am sorry to learn of this difficult situation, however, under Florida law, the veternarian's office has an absolute obligation to provide you with your pets' medical records.  Florida Statute Section 474,2165(3)provides that "Any records owner licensed under this chapter who makes an examination of, or administers treatment or dispenses legend drugs to, any patient shall, upon request of the client or the client’s legal representative, furnish, in a timely manner, without delays for legal review, copies of all reports and records relating to such examination or treatment, including X rays. The furnishing of such report or copies shall not be conditioned upon payment of a fee for services rendered."    This means the records must be provided regardless of whether or not there is an outstnading balance due for vet services, but the vet's office may charge for the reasonable cost of producing the copies.  The full text can be found here: https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0400-0499/0474/Sections/0474.2165.html    Since things have apparently become heated between you and office staff, it is prudent to make the request in writing, send it via certified mail, return receipt requested, and advise of the email address for electronic copy and physical address for paper copies.  It is also possible for any new vet's office to directly request the records from the former vet.  Best of luck.... Read More

First you will need to find out where the dog is and then go from there. If the dog was chipped then in theory therw would be record of that with BHS. The notion of "believing" without evidence or documentation is useless. Otherwise, you may want to retain a lawyer, unfortunately at some significant expense, to contact BHS and see if that gets a response as to your ownership of the animal and go from there. ... Read More

This is typically only an issue for people who have illegal pets and are purposefully attempting to avoid geting caught and held accountable. Hence the "notice" issues  - because offending tenants will hide the animals elsewhere for the same reason drug raids do not make an appointment with drug dealers. Your sister could confront the LL over the issue - but to what end and at what expense? Unless she intends to spend thousands of dollars in legal fees challenging the management over the issue, its not a fight to pick. That said, she may want to retain a tenant lawyer to intervene if there is an issue where the LL won't tell them whether they have checked her place yet. In the meantime, she would be well served to geta wireless security video system in her apartment to document any entry when she is not home. ... Read More

Not sure what the question is. That said - legal liability does not require pictures or witnesses though that is helpful. Either your dog "busted out the gate" or it didn't and it bit other dogs or it didn't. This all revolves aound the type of dog, its history of "bustin out the gate", the type of fencing and gate and its condition, etc. I would start with getting as much detail as possible about the allegations and if the other person is making a claim or demanding damages, you will likely need to retain a lawyer and report it to your homeowners coverage. ... Read More

You will need to find an "animal law" lawyer to address this. Unfortunately, animal law typically holds that pets are property nor family, so this is a sisgnificant factor in the expense of hiring such lawyers which often require legal expenses and retainers in excess of the value of the animal. Try using Google or the find a lawyer featue here for that. ... Read More

Yes, but they are not usually cost viable cases because animals are treated as chattel or personal property so there is no wrongful death claim concept and the expense of such cases are typically outweighed by the low verdict or settlement value. You should have your case reviewed by a lawyer before you proceed with any type of lawsuit. ... Read More

NO way to tell. What is clear is that unless you can ID the people and prove it was thier dog, its impossible to hold "them" responsible. You may have to spend money on a lawyer to sue and try to depose your neighbor to see if they will disclose the ID of the "freind." There also may be issues if BOTH dogs were not on a leash. ... Read More

You will need to retain a lawyer to examine this and see if there are any pending or viable class claims for this issue. As I understand it, this was all made public and the EPA took action 20+ years ago, so much of this issue revolves around your age now and when you were there. A toddler or an adult reference does nothing to establish the dates at issue. Use the find a lawyer feature for that purpose. ... Read More

There is no "we" in this equation absent an existing guardianship over the mother. This is important as there appears to be a potential sibling vs. sibling controversy, one must be very careful in addressing such issues as they can rapdily expand into personal vendettas, as referenced by "her daughter" rather than "my sister or step-sister." Your mother may need to hire a lawyer to pursue a lawsuit against the daughter to recover the dog, which is deemed personal property in Florida, if she can't be convinced to return the animal voluntarily. ... Read More

Its not about a laywer that can handle the case as much as a client willing to spend thousands of dollars filing a lawsuit or pursuing a legal claim. Unfortunately, animals are deemed personal property so there is no pain and suffering or separate legal fee recovery for suing the at fault dog owner. These are often more issues about principle than value. ... Read More

Unfortunately, ESA are treated differently than SA, especially when the animals are "dangerous breeds." There are also recent laws in Florida making it criminal to fabricate an ESA status by both phycisians and tenants as a means to circumvent pet restrictions, targeting "online" psychology or therapist schemes rsometimes referred to as an "ESA ATM"  where people essentially pay for a therapist letter that is dubious as to credibility. That stated, even an SA would run afoul if it attacked another animal. The issue here will be whether the remedy is eviction or removal of the animal vs. expensive litigation defending an eviction and risking having an eviction on the rental record. You will need to retain a lawyer to intervene and address this at some expense. You can check to see if legal aid can intervene.... Read More

Nope. No obligation at all. Just like the lawyer has no obligation to send such letters. They can simply sue you and the dog owner forcing you hire a lawyer to defend the case, likely at your expense, as most homeowner's coverages exclude dogs bite cases. That said, its probably easier to simply accept the letterand address the issue directly. ... Read More

This is an issue that starts with insurance reporting and claims and goes from there. If there is no insurance and the alleged bite occurred offsite, then it may be that you will have to bear the expense of hiring a lawyer to address any claim and defend any lawsuit at your expense. You need to do that ASAP hoping to "nip this in the bud" before it expands and gets out of control if possible. The key here is assessing the basis for and ntaure of the claim whether from a fall or the bite.... Read More

The 'ol "they" sent me home explanation gets no where unless you can bring "they" to court to confess what you claim "they" did or there is somethinhg like video evidence showing you were there and someone pointing toward the door as you leave. THIS is why you hire a criminal defense lawyer to address such issues and that is what you should do ASAP. ... Read More