-Letter from the Chair-
Joan Schaffner
Animal Law Committee - Chair
It is both a privilege and an honor to serve as chair of the ABA-TIP’S Animal Law Committee (ALC) for the coming year. I look forward to working with you on behalf of the ALC and all animals. My predecessors, Barbara Gislason, Kristina Hancock, Gilda Mariani, and Meena Alagappan have been outstanding role models. They each accomplished great things in their respective years. In fact, the ALC has received awards from TIPS each of the past 5 years culminating with receipt of the top award this past year. Under the superb leadership of Meena Alagappan, the ALC received the TIPS award for “Overall Excellence" recognizing “the intensity and quality of its efforts to involve committee members in the activities of the Committee and the Section." Our challenge this year is to continue this wonderful history as we pursue the ALC mission to be “the instrument of a paradigm shift” in our thinking on animal issues and the law
The ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago this past August was a great success for the ALC. On Friday morning, July 31, 2009 the ALC co-sponsored a 90-minute CLE program entitled "The Supreme Court and the Ownership of Life: An Oral Argument.” This moot court was designed to explore what would happen should the issue of the patenting of sentient life forms, which currently happens quite frequently in the United States, reach the United States Supreme Court. With two outstanding advocates arguing their case before four distinguished judges the program was interesting and educational.
On Saturday afternoon, August 1, 2009, Joyce Tischler, co-founder and General Counsel of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and an active ALC member was awarded the Excellence in Animal Law Award and Rebecca Huss was recognized for her outstanding work as the special guardian for the Vick dogs. As you all know, those dogs are doing great in their new homes or safe havens. We are grateful to Safe Humane Chicago, Best Friends Animal Society, and Animal Farm Foundation for their generous support in sponsoring the reception.
The meeting culminated for the ALC on Sunday morning, August 2, 2009, when Ledy Van Kavage, Rebecca Huss, Mariann Sullivan, and I attended Chicago’s Dog Day on the Green. Thanks to Ledy Van Kavage, Best Friends Animal Society, and Safe Humane Chicago, we were invited to join in the festivities to chat with pets and their owners about animals and the law. It was a very fun event and the weather was purrrrfect!
The ALC is doing very well on the publications front. Our third book, “A Lawyer’s Guide to Dangerous Dog Issues,” was published in June with approximately 260 units already sold. Sales from our three books now exceed $50,000 with unit sales of approximately 130 of “Wildlife: A Global Perspective” and 520 of “Litigating Animal Law Disputes: A Complete Guide for Lawyers.”
The ALC continues to move forward with our two model legislation efforts. First, is the Holding Period Recommendation which calls for states and territories to adopt a statute to establish guidelines for animal shelters and mandatory minimum hold periods for companion animals separated from their human families following natural disasters. Amendments to this bill were presented to TIPS Council at the Fall Meeting in San Diego. Second, also presented to TIPS Council at the Fall Meeting, was Recovery for Harm to a Companion Animal, legislation that would allow for recovery of non-economic damages in cases of wrongful injury to or death of a companion animal. Further, the ALC has recently begun work on a third legislative effort to address the issues of dangerous dogs and their reckless owners. If you are interested in working on this effort, please contact Ledy VanKavage, Co-Chair, Companion Animal Subcommittee at ledyv@bestfriends.org.
This year the ALC will begin a routine effort of reviewing federal legislation addressing animals and selecting key bills the ALC wishes TIPS and the ABA to support. In the past we have been successful in getting such support for the PETS Act and for a bill that would establish a separate category for animal cruelty in the FBI criminal database. The following bills have been identified: (1) H.R. 3501: The Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years (HAPPY) Act that will allow taxpayers to deduct up to $3500/year in qualifying pet expenses; (2) H.R.1549: A bill to regulate the use of antibiotics in farmed animals; (3) H.R. 503/S. 727: The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, to ban the slaughter of American horses for human consumption overseas, as well as the export of American horses to other countries for slaughter; and (4) H.R. 1018: A bill to reform Bureau of Land Management procedures and prevent the slaughter of healthy horses and burros as a means of management. Members are currently working on proposals for the first three bills. If you are interested in working on any of these proposals, please e-mail me at jschaf@law.gwu.edu.
The ALC will be sponsoring two CLE programs this coming year. First, to be presented as a 90-minute live audio webinar in March 2010, is “Animal Rights, Freedom of Speech and the Right to Know.” This webinar will discuss the U.S. v. Stevens case, soon to be decided by the Supreme Court. The second, to be presented at the 2010 ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, is “What Price Love? Mass Tort Actions and Animals.” This panel-style workshop will address the litigation issues which arise in mass torts involving animals, like the 2007 pet food recall and the 2009 overdose of a vitamin supplement that killed an entire Venezuelan team of prized polo horses. Issues to be discussed include, preserving evidence for plaintiffs and defendants, identifying causation, and remedies and damages available for the wrongful death or injury to animals, including the valuation of animals. Panelists will include attorneys, veterinarians and other experts involved in recent animal mass tort cases, together with experts in products liability and mass tort litigation.
Now that the ALC is in its 5th year, we have begun compiling a history of the Committee since its inception. Thanks to Marianne McDermott, our first historian, the story to date is almost complete. Soon the History of the ABA-TIPS’ Animal Law Committee will be posted on our web site at http://www.abanet.org/tips/animal. I think you will find it quite illuminating!
The ALC now has some 300 members and in an effort to stay in touch with each of you, I will host an ALC teleconference once every OTHER month on the THIRD WEDNESDAY of each ODD-NUMBERED month at 2pm EST. The agenda is divided into two parts: (1) Status update on the ALC, e.g. what we are doing, upcoming CLEs, meetings, books, etc. and (2) A guest member speaker who will share an animal law topic with the group based on what they are working on or interested in. This is designed to get individual members more involved and an opportunity for us to share experience and knowledge. I realize that we are all busy and thus the teleconference will run no longer than 45 minutes. The teleconference will not involve open discussion as coordination is very difficult via teleconference. However, I welcome your input via e-mail after the teleconference to address any questions or suggestions you might have. The first teleconference was held September 16, 2009 with attendance by approximately 20 members. Mariann Sullivan spoke about her recent trip to South Africa (see article infra) and Michelle Welch gave a superb account of the new Virginia laws addressing puppy mills and animal fighting respectively. I received great feedback from those who attended. I hope you can join us at the next teleconference.
Also, in keeping with the theme of communication and participation, the ALC recently began a mentoring program for our many student members. The field of animal law is quite new and captures the attention of students nationwide. To help expand the field and educate our student members on the legal issues as well as the opportunities available to practice animal law, we are looking for attorney members interested in serving as mentors. If you are interested in serving, please e-mail the ALC Student Vice Chair Akisha Townsend at akt25@law.georgetown.edu. Student members interested in participating as mentees should also contact Akisha.
As we begin another great year, please spread the word about our Committee. Our membership brochure can be accessed electronically at http://www.abanet.org/tips/animal/AnimalLawBrochure.pdf. Also, please join our Facebook group to stay apprised of animal law news and activities of the ALC. Thanks so much for your continued enthusiasm and support of the ALC!
