Animal law is a growing area
Michelle Lore
The Minnesota Lawyer (Minneapolis, MN)
August 29, 2005 Monday
With dogged determination, ferocious drive and a little horse sense, animal-law attorneys have dug out an attractive practice area.
The Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) two years ago approved the creation of an Animal Law Committee, granting it section status a year later. Last year, the American Bar Association (ABA) followed suit, establishing an Animal Law Committee as part of its Tort Trial and Insurance Practice (TIPS) Section. Four dozen law schools across the country are now offering courses in animal law - and at least 41 states have passed animal-related criminal felony bills, compared to less than a dozen a decade ago.
Attorneys who regularly practice in animal law are pleased to see the increasing attention paid to animal-related issues, and remain convinced that the practice area will continue to expand over the coming years.
"It's a growing area," said Edina attorney Katherine C. Bloomquist, who chairs the MSBA's Animal Law Section. "There has been much more attention on animal law in the last few years than I've seen in the last 15 years."
Fridley attorney Barbara J. Gislason, who chairs the ABA's Animal Law Committee, agreed. "The status of animals in our legal system is in flux and attorneys are discovering creative and interesting ways to use legal arguments in the face of increasingly complex scenarios," she said.
A new committee
At the time the MSBA elevated the Animal Law Committee to section status in June 2004, the bar group was only the sixth state in the country to make animal law an integral part of its association.
Gislason was instrumental in getting the committee off the ground and served as its first chair. She was also the impetus behind the ABA's adoption of an Animal Law Committee last year.
"I see myself as a pioneer," Gislason recently told Minnesota Lawyer. "I am bringing attention to an emerging practice area."
Like the MSBA Animal Law Section, the ABA's Animal Law Committee (ALC) examines the current state of the law and animal-related issues. Its mission is to evolve the thinking on animal issues across the country and the world, and to examine animal-related problems. (See sidebar.)
In an open letter to the ALC, Gislason notes that the public interest in animals is steadily increasing. Proof of the interest in animals and animal-related issues lies in the fact that there are 65 million indoor pets in the United States, most states have passed animal related criminal felony legislation and animal law courses are becoming common in law schools across the country. "It's growing every month," Gislason observed.
A broad area
St. Paul attorney Corwin Kruse, who taught a course on animal law at William Mitchell College of Law last semester and currently serves as vice chair of the MSBA's Animal Law Section, pointed out that animal law covers elements of torts, contracts, intellectual property and criminal law. "Any area of law can have an animal law component to it," he said.
Bloomquist, who handles many equine law cases in particular, added that animal law as a practice area includes topics like animal rights, animal welfare and pet ownership issues.
According to Gislason, animal law, when broken down into its component parts, has long been the subject of the rule of law all over the world. "Orderly societies have wanted answers to questions like: who pays when an animal damages property or bites, where is it allowed to be, when and how can it be killed, how are risks managed, what constitutes a sale, what is the difference between lying and puffing, and under what circumstances will the treatment of an animal by a human be circumscribed," Gislason wrote in the letter to the ALC.
In addition to the already recognized practice area of equine law, specific issues falling into the area of animal law include:
* the legality of estate planning for companion animals;
* the changing liability standards and insurance coverage in dog bite and other animal cases;
* compensation beyond fair market value when an animal is killed;
* public and private conflicts about where an animal may be kept; and
* the competing interests of wild animals and urban, farming and recreational land use.
Because animal law is so broad and encompasses so many different areas, most people who practice in animal law today do it as part of a more general practice. According to Corwin, however, that may change.
"As the field grows, there will be more opportunities for people who want to do just this sort of thing," he said.
Gislason refers to attorneys practicing in animal law as "generalists" who are trying to build the field.
"A lot of people who do animal law " will accept a case even though it's outside their normal practice area," she said. "They take on a broad variety of cases and stick their necks out because if they don't do it, no one will."
Hot buttons
Within the broad legal arena known as animal law, there are several more specific issues that are gaining particular attention these days.
"Pet custody is hot," said Gislason, noting that people are living with more animals now than children.
Most states don't have laws on the books in this area, but people think they do, Gislason observed. In reality, who gets a pet during a divorce is something that is completely within the judge's discretion. With the nation's high divorce rate, it makes sense to develop laws in the area of pet custody, she said.
According to Bloomquist, pet trusts are another emerging area. It used to seem novel, but we are seeing more and more issues surrounding wills and trusts devoted to pet care after one's death, she said.
While more than half the country currently allows pet trusts, Minnesota is not one of them, despite recent efforts by attorneys to get such a statute passed, Gislason observed. "That is extremely upsetting to senior citizens."
Ownership of exotic animals - like tigers - and the legal issues it touches on, is another growing area, Bloomquist added. Examination of these issues involves the public's and the county's perspective on animal ownership, as well as consideration of the best interests of the animals involved.
Change needed
Practitioners also assert there are a variety of areas in the animal law arena that need to evolve, like veterinary medicine.
"Veterinary malpractice laws have to change," Gislason observed, noting that unlike medical malpractice premiums across the country, veterinarian premiums are less now than they were 10 years ago.
Under current law in Minnesota, all a pet owner may recover in a case of veterinary malpractice is economic loss or replacement value of the pet. But many people would rather lose an expensive piece of art than a beloved pet, Gislason opined.
Corwin explained that while animals have traditionally been looked at merely as property, courts seem to be becoming more sympathetic to punitive damage claims, especially in cases where someone intentionally causes the death of another person's pet. "But it is still largely a property value claim," he said. "The law hasn't caught up with how we view animals."
Bloomquist added that questions are now being raised over the rights of the animals, as well whether pet owners can recover emotional damage for the loss of an animal. "We are seeing more requests for sentimental value," she said. "New law is being developed there."
Gislason said that much of the work of the ABA's Animal Law Committee and the MSBA's Animal Law Section centers on bringing attention to these issues and implementing much-needed change. "There need to be laws on the books that make sense," she said.
© 2005 Dolan Media Newswires. Reprinted with permission.