Court Allows Family to Pursue Arguments That View Animals as Having Value Beyond That of Mere Property and Commodities

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HILLSBORO, Ore. - Washington County Circuit Court Judge Marco Hernandez has agreed to hear a case in which a family is claiming that their two companion dogs had value beyond their monetary worth as mere property and commodities.

Ex-National Football League player Stan Brock and his family have filed a $300,000 civil suit seeking damages for a loss of companionship due to the killing of their two companion animals. Since our legal system perceives animals as nothing more than commodities or things to be bought, sold, and discarded at an “owner’s” whim, this case has the potential to be quite a landmark in the growing effort to erase the property status of animals.

"Judge Hernandez’s agreeing to hear this case is another in the growing number of signs that show animals are starting to be recognized as having value, not as mere commodities and things, but as individuals with needs and interests of their own," said Russell Tenofsky, Co-Director of IDA’s "They Are Not Out Property, We Are Not Their Owners" campaign. "This lawsuit, the growing number of law schools teaching Animal Rights Law courses, and communities such as Boulder, Colorado codifying the concepts and language of animal guardianship, are all signs that our social paradigm is beginning to view and treat animals as more than mere property and things."

On July 11, 2000, the Boulder, CO, City Council overwhelmingly endorsed this attitude when it voted to change the city’s municipal codes to refer to people as the guardians–rather than the “owners”–of their companion animals. Animal welfare commissions in San Francisco, Marin County, and Berkeley, California, have all passed similar resolutions urging their local governments to adopt the guardian language and attitudes

"On behalf of everyone who is working so hard to elevate the status of animals, we would like to thank Judge Hernandez for his foresight and leadership. Hopefully we will look back on this trial as ushering in a new paradigm that encompasses all beings, both human and non-human alike," said Tenofsky.

Companionship argument allowed in pet death suit, from the Portland Oregonian, January 26, 2001

More information about IDA’s "They Are Not Out Property, We Are Not Their Owners" campaign.