Courts hand down two different emotional distress rulings: Pet owners in Calif, and N.J. sue, receive different results

摘要

A California appeals court has upheld $50,000 in emotional damages suffered by a Laguna Niguel, Calif., couple when their neighbor hit their miniature Pinscher with a baseball bat. While the ruling is being called the first pet-related emotional damages award to be upheld in the state of California, the opinion of Justice William Rylaarsdam of the Fourth District Court of Appeal emphasizes that the emotional damages are related not to negligence—as would be the case with a veterinarian s error, which is unprecedented in state case law—but to the defendant's actions of trespassing on the plaintiffs' personal property and intentionally injuring their dog.