Horse Lawsuit Being Appealed

Hillsboro, Or. –  The group that filed suit on behalf of a horse will appeal the dismissal of its effort to sue its owner. The Animal Legal Defense Fund represents a horse called Justice that was abused by its former owner. The suit seeks $100,000 for the animal’s medical care, pain and suffering. Washington County Judge John Knowles ruled  last fall a horse does not have legal standing and dismissed the suit.

The Executive Director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Stephen Wells says “Justice is an intelligent, emotionally complex animal who suffers grievously because of the actions of the person who was supposed to protect him. Now, the Animal Legal Defense Fund seeks to establish that under Oregon law, Justice has legal recourse for that abuse, We are hopeful that the appeals court will agree.”

Judge Knowles said “as indicated in my ruling, an appellate decision is welcomed as this is an important issue.”

He said in an  interview with KXL last month “there’s a slippery slope as we say. For example, if an animal can sue and you’re giving it basically the same rights as human beings, then what do we do about people who like to eat meat, or can we even kill insects?”