Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

my husbamd and i bought a dog from a breeder. However she was not present at the time we picked the dog up only her husband was. No notary was present either. The dog we bought may have been breed and in her contract it states the dog we bought must be OFA certified before breeding. However we did not realize you could not get this certification until the dog is two years of age. The breeding of the dog was unintentional, our male busted out of his kennel to get to the female. My husband posted pics on facebook saying we may have puppies soon. Immediately the breeder contacted us and said we were in breach of contract because the dog is not 2. She said she would be sending a notarized copy of the contract. Is this a valid notarized copy if the notary was not present when all parties signed the contract? Also, no punitive damages were listed for not abiding for this certain matter. However, punitive damages in the amount of $5000 were listed for not abiding by other facets of the contract such as breeding with a dog that is an AKC registered Chesapeake Bay Retriever, which we did not violate. Our male is a registered AKC chesapeake. We told the breeder we are not positive she is pregnant. It is still too early to tell. If she is what are we liable for? The breeder is worried about the reputation of her bloodline. If we agreed to not register the pups would that be a suitable deal? Would we have to owe her any money? Again no amount of money was listed in the contract for violating this certain offense. I believe she has had other buyers violate this same thing because it is not clearly stated the dog must be 2 years of age before breeding and if you are not familiar with the OFA certification ( hio displaysa certification) you are unaware of the age limit requirement. Also we bought the dog in Texas; however my husband is in the military and we reside in Virginia now. The contract does state the legal matters will be handled in Harris County.


Asked on 5/10/10, 5:08 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

You might want to have a Virginia attorney review this contract and the relevant , facts surrounding its execution, and then, perhaps, give you an assessment as to its enforceability and any remedies that might realistically be available to you.

Beyond that I would have no recommendation.

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Answered on 5/23/10, 10:06 am


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