Tabia, $10,000 domestic Savannah cat.
Standard DSH Silver Tabby worth about $75
Posted on 08/17/2011 9:24:35 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Pretty pathetic, if you ask me. Your pets are living, breathing beings and part of your family. The term property reminds me of slavery.
If this story was intended to make the insurance company look bad, it didn’t succeed. Sadly she has only one legal option available to her. Sue the driver. I hate suing. To me, when you have to sue someone to force them to uphold their responsibility it’s just another sign of a fractured and failed Society.
Too many people think insurance is a catch all for their own stupidity/negligence. The driver, in order to obtain a license on public roads, has signed an agreement to maintain responsibility for public liability and damages. It’s time to pay the piper.
People who don’t maintain that responsibility are a large part of the reason why you and I pay outrageous premiums, even though we might never have had a claim or even a ticket.
Replacement cost varies depending on the breed. If you have a mutt, or a generic cat, it might be $50, whatever an adoption costs. If you have a purebreed lab, it might be $2000. I’m not saying it’s right, in fact we probably debated it in law school. I just remember that this is what the law historically has said. Given that the goal of tort law is to make the injured party whole, if an animal that is a sentimental object of affection for a person is damaged, it would take more than the replacement cost to make the injured party whole. So I would not be adverse to revisiting the law. But I also would not want to see million dollar verdicts because someone’s cat got run over, either. There could be a middle ground for causing harm to a family pet, and there could be a requirement that vet expenses are paid.
Complain to Blackstone and the English common law. That’s where it came from. States are free to change it but few have.
Thanks for the explanation.
Tabia, $10,000 domestic Savannah cat.
Standard DSH Silver Tabby worth about $75
Tabia sure does look stunning.
I’ll bet she behaves a lot like the rather ordinary cats who appeared in my back yard (with their suitcases, announcing that they live in my house).
That tabby is a nice looking cat too.
Indeed they are, but given time you are bound to be taken to task by the “animals don’t deserve justice and why isn’t this thread about humans” crowd. They are legion on these threads.
They are actually called the dog lover's cat. They are extremely smart and trainable. Even considered to have loyalties to their owners ...much like a dog.
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