Legal Question in Criminal Law in Arizona

My mother and I lived in Arizona. My mother rented out her house to the daughter of a friend after I accepted a position in Hawaii. I owned a cat and furniture that were left in the home in Arizona when were both moved to Hawaii. There was a verbal agreement made that the new tenet would care for the cat until the cat was able to join us in Hawaii. Hawaii has specific animal importation laws and the cat was not able to travel at that time. The cat also has numerous shots to prepare for the trip. The new tenet was to watch the cat until all proper paperwork and results were in and the transportation could then be made. Two months after we moved my mother spoke to the tenet and asked if she could watch the cat for a while longer and she was assured that she would. The tenet said she LOVED the cat and would never abandon her. A month later the new tenet then decided to give away my cat I owned for 10 years. My mother has tried several times to contact her tenet within the past 10 months to find out how the cat was doing and never got a response. Only about improvements to the home etc. Finally we got an text 9 months later saying she gave the cat away and has no idea how to contact the person she gave it to. I updated the pet id chip as "stolen" but I have no way of knowing when my cat is at. What can I do? The tenet had no authority to give my cat away and never even said she was considering it. I would had a friend take the cat if necessary for a month until I could get back to AZ. Can I sue her? Can I make an police report? and what for?


Asked on 1/08/12, 6:39 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Carrie Spiller Law Office of Carrie M Spiller, PLLC

That is a fairly complicated issue, but you could contact the police is the jurisdiction where the house is (where the cat was) to see if they would make a report for theft. Animals in Arizona are generally considered "property". I couldn't tell you whether they would ever file any charges or not. You could also file a small claims suit (civil) for money damages, but there are time limits.

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Answered on 1/26/12, 7:34 am


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