Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New York
A neighbor of mine has a dog that they tie out in the front yard of their property. The dog has gotten loose numerous times, and the first place it goes to is my house where it knocks over the trash can and rummages through the garbage. I've caught the dog in the act several times and notified the neighbor about this, but thus far, I have cleaned up the mess myself. There is no doubt that the neighbor is responsible for those damages, however, I'm interested in knowing how the court will determine the amount of damages. None of my property is really being irreparably damaged, it's just an inconvenience to have to clean up the mess, so suing for $5000 is ridiculous, but suing for $20 is rather petty. What would be a reasonable amount that a court would award me if I can prove that this is a regular occurance?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Probably nothing but heck, it might be worth it to try to wake up the abuser. By the way, this is companion animal abuse in my mind (under NY's Agriculture and Markets Law-see Carolryderlaw.com for a list of animal laws and animal bills sitting around in Albany while they fight and do nothing). Videotape and photograph the dog tied up and in your yard and contact Animal Control-tell them you have evidence. Animal Control may take the poor dog away and he could be quickly euthanized in many shelters (which is why we formed a new group called CASA (Civic Association for Shelter Accounatbility) to stop mistreatment and euthanization in shelters. We are only on Long Island, for now (just got started-supposed to be mentioned on an Oprah taped last week). OR, they may have the neighbor straighten out his act. However, it seems that he is an abusive ahole, maybe dealing drugs, using the dog for protection and the dog would be better off anywhere but there.
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