| Wylie's Mom | 03-29-2009 03:17 PM |
Re-opened this thread so I could add the info which I heard back from the attorney I mentioned. This is what she says regarding this situation and the question of whether Emma can be spayed, even pending a case:
From the little bit I could bear to read (so sad for Emma) it is pretty clear she was bought and sold as a pet, not a show or breeding quality dog (and the price is a pet price as well once you would subtract out shipping) there is no reason not to spay Emma, neither legal or ethical. In fact it might add to her worth because any new owner won't have to pay for the surgery themselves. It might be different if she was purchased for the purpose of breeding at the price one would expect, but that does not seem to be the case here. Even then, if I bought a show quality intact bitch and I got her home and I tried showing her and it became clear there was no way in heck she would finish or should be bred then if I wanted to pursue a legal claim (which I would not do-- lawyers are not all that hip on filing suit for themselves, it really is an emotional and financial pain in the butt and not worth it when you are talking about even a couple of thousand dollars) I would still spay and sell the bitch as a pet and then file a claim for the difference between what I paid and what I got when I sold her-- the legal term for this is called "mitigating your damages" and it is required of plaintiffs in most states, under either a breach of contract or tort claim.
An attorney is going to just add to this buyer's "loss", even a conference and a letter or two is going to end up costing close to what she paid.
I would like to express my greatest thanks to this YT member for sharing her opinion - I appreciate it very much and I know others will as well. It confirms what many of us were thinking - and that was, that even if the buyers decide to file suit, they may still spay Emma now - which is obviously in Emma's best interest. | 