QUESTION
Is the veterinarian liable for escape of my cat from her clinic?
Asked on Jun 12th, 2013 on Animal Law - Florida
More details to this question:
I took my cat in for rabies shot. She was terrified and escaped the exam room into the dropped ceiling. The veterinarian said there was no way she could get out of the building. Turns out there were 1 1/2" to 2" open spaces between louvers over an attic fan in the ceiling. The area was filled with a large amount of insulation so I was not able to see much when I went up on a ladder into an opening to the ceiling. No one could go into the attic because the dropped ceiling would not support the weight of a human. All I could do was call her while I looked for her as I stood on the ladder, which I did for 30 or 45 minutes several times on several different days, with no response. The vet did remove some tiles from the ceiling of 3 or 4 rooms and put food and water out for my cat, with no sign of her touching it. She escaped the exam room a week ago and has not been seen or heard since.
1 ANSWER
Consumer Debt Collector Harassment & Abuse Attorney serving Tampa, FL
Partner at
Tischhauser Law Group
2 Awards
Possibly. As animals are typically treated as personal property you may have something called a "bailment" to work with and possibly pfrofessional liability issues due to licensure. Reall issue is whether you want to spend money hiring lawyer to make such claims for you as it may be very difficult to find a lawyer to take the case on a contingent fee (paid % of damages if they win type fee) as it may be very difficult to place a $$ value on this type of case.
Answered on Jun 14th, 2013 at 2:08 PM
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