Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

We have pressed charged agaunst a woman who was temporarily lliving with us because she started stealing from us to buy crack cocaine. We had no idea she was taking drugs when she moved in., the day i told her that she had to move out, she went in my back yard and cut both wrists in an atempt to make me change my mind. I called 911 and she was takinen to the hospital where she spent a week in the psych ward. She was arrested upon her release then bonded out. we have a preliminary court hearing set for July 12th, for ther judge t decide if there is enough evidence to prosecute her, which there is plnty. The police have been involved for quite a while. the day she came to get her things, I refused to give her her sweet little dog because she had neglected him. He was skin and bones when they got here. He was ful of parasites and both ears were infected. She stole my husband;s visa carde, a 400.00 gold wedding band, a 300.00 new handcarved hunting knife, a brand new subwoofer, . She now is tqaking us to civil court dated after the prelim. hearing in the criminal case. Can we claim the dog as ours because of the losses we have incurred due to her theft? She will no doubt be going back to jail and possibly prison brcause she is still on probation from prison in Missouri, which we did not know about either. /we are very naive and guess we thought that by showing love and kindness to her we could help, but how wrong we were. Do we have any chance of being able to keep the dog? we love him so much. She actually abandoned him at our home several times being gone 24 hrs out on drug binges., Karen Snyder


Asked on 7/04/11, 7:15 pm

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

Under the law of the Commonwealth, and, as far as I know, all other U.S. jurisdictions, pets are considered the personal property of their owners.

Consequently,(in my opinion), under the facts described that the owner of this

animal has been a "temporary tenant" of yours and one who has allegedly stolen from your husband and that such claims therefore provide you with the right to

keep this animal as your own and to refrain from returning it to its rightful owner as soon as possible--is utterly without legal justification.

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Answered on 7/04/11, 9:27 pm


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