Posted on 11/28/2001 11:05:54 AM PST by NativeNewYorker
VISTA ---- A 47-year-old Vista man whose assistance dog was attacked last year by a cat that served as the Escondido library's mascot filed a $1.5 million lawsuit Tuesday against the city of Escondido.
Richard Ramon "Rik" Espinosa, a former North County Times staff writer, alleges the city violated state civil rights laws, including laws designed specifically to protect the rights of the disabled, by denying him full access to the library with his assistance dog.
"The issue isn't that the cat attacked my dog," Espinosa said Tuesday. "It's about the ability of somebody with a disability to freely access that library unfettered. It is totally analogous to stairs to somebody with a wheelchair, especially since the cat was known to attack other animals."
Assistant City Attorney Mark Waggoner declined Tuesday to comment on the lawsuit, but said the library's policy was to allow any assistance animal into the library. Library staff did not prevent any assistance dogs from entering, Waggoner said.
"The problem was a cat with its own feline whims," Waggoner said.
According to the lawsuit, Espinosa suffers from numerous disabilities, including decreased lung function, permanent back disability, chronic pain syndrome, borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder and panic disorder.
Espinosa's certified assistance dog, Kimba, a 55-pound female Labrador mix, has been "individually and specially trained to help Espinosa with his disabilities," according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that the library's cat clawed Espinosa's dog without provocation when Espinosa went to the library as a news reporter Nov. 16, 2000, to interview library computer users. Espinosa retreated, pulling the dog out the door by the leash, and suffered a panic attack outside, the lawsuit alleges.
Espinosa alleges in the lawsuit that a library supervisor refused to call for assistance, and a male library patron berated him for bringing a dog into the library. The attack visibly scarred Espinosa's dog, the lawsuit alleges.
Memories of the incident cause recurring "terror and fear" for Espinosa, exacerbating his depression, the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit also equates a sign on the library's door asking patrons not to bring animals except licensed guide dogs for the blind into the building with signs in the south before the federal Civil Rights Act that prevented black people from entering or using various facilities.
Espinosa said the library has removed the wording regarding the admission of animals from its door since the incident involving his dog.
Waggoner said the change in the wording on the library's doors was not a result of Espinosa's actions but was meant to bring the library "more in line" with current requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
"The whole city has become better acquainted with them (ADA requirements)," Waggoner said, referring to the aftermath of a different lawsuit that also involved the use of an assistance dog.
In that case, a quadriplegic whose Shih Tzu-poodle mix served as an assistance dog was forced to leave a performance at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, because she would not leave her dog in her car. A federal judge ruled in August that arts center officials were ignorant of the Americans with Disabilities Act's requirements and violated the woman's rights. The judge awarded the woman $13,000 in damages.
Is that a polite way of saying there's no appreciable wear in his loafers?
Would that make him "round-toed"? (as opposed to "round-heeled")
Enquiring Cynical minds want to know!
The jury ought to find for the plaintiff and award him a box of Depends.
My question: how do you get the cat into the bag in the first place?
Probably just lay the bag down on the floor?
/john
I assumed some Sacramento legislator-on-the-take inserted a provision allowing for this to be paid for by the State...
Thanks. I must confess -- I'm a writer. :)
Thanks. He's a different kinda cat alright. Big black and white "tuxedo", strong as an ox, no real sense of his own power. At first, the other cats were terrified of him. They're gradually getting beyond that, and he's slowly learning to fit in with them. But, he goes nuts for my wife and me. When I pick him up, he grabs my neck and starts licking my beard over and over trying to groom it for me, purring like a motorboat. He'd let me hold him for hours, if I'd do it. That's kinda rare. I may be reading too much into it (I don't think I am), but I think he's grateful for being rescued. He came scratching at the sliding glass door to the kitchen one night in the dead of winter. A couple of our cats were looking at him through the window, and when my wife slid the door open, he came running in! Very unusual. He was a wreck, all cut up, and half his ear frostbitten real bad. (It eventually dried up and fell off.) But, he didn't have the typical "starvation cat" look that most ferals have. This guy was obviously a successful hunter. Fast, strong, and he knows how to hold still and quiet. But, it had to be a hard life, between the cold and the predators. So, I think he's glad to be here.
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