Seattle Woman Wins Record Judgment In Death Of Cat
The woman sued the dog's owner and made history in the process. But not everyone is happy with the $45,000+ judgment.
" 'Yofi' means 'wonderful' in Hebrew," said Paula Roemer. She rescued Yofi off the streets of Israel, when Yofi was just a three-week-old kitten; abandoned and near death.
"You know I couldn't walk away from her."
Yofi is just one of Roemer's animal rescues. There's Ginger, the shepherd-husky mix, and Boots and Bugs, two other cats, and a whole slew of wild birds, raccoons, possums and squirrels. But Yofi was special.
"She was the center of everything, she was the catalyst of joy in this house," Roemer said.
But February of last year, that joy died. Roemer was walking Ginger when a neighboring dog, a chow chow, squeezed through a small hole in her fenced backyard.
Roemer heard the ruckus and ran back to see the dog shaking Yofi.
"And I wasn't there to save her," says Roemer through tears. "I mean, I can deal with the death of people and animals, but I can't deal with the way she died."
What makes it worse, Roemer says neighbors and animal control had warned the dog owner many times about his dogs running loose.
The owner wasn't home and didn't return our phone calls, but Seattle Animal Control confirms they have a long history of complaints.
Animal control charged the owner with a misdemeanor, but what was Roemer to do?
She sued, and won $45,480.
"Ah, I felt like I just wanted to cry," says Roemer, "I was so grateful because there was a person who understood."
But some neighbors -- even animal lovers -- call the award ridiculous. "But if her cat is as precious to her as she seems to think it was," says one woman who didn't want us to use her name, "why did she let it outside?"
Neither Roemer nor her attorney expects the dog owner to ever come up with the money. But they say it sends a message that animals are not just property.