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Lucy case update

Joebar4000

Joebar4000

New member
Joined
Nov 17, 2002
Location
Los Gatos hills
Moto(s)
Anything I can get my hands on for now
Name
Ian
Fucking sucks, basically.

We sued the County of Santa Clara, City of Sunnyvale, and one other person who will remain nameless for reasons that should be clear in a moment.

The County and City asked for Demurrers/Motions to Strike for a bunch of reasons, almost all of which were denied.

EXCEPT, the little tiny one that they have prosecutorial immunity. Case dismissed.

How fucked is that? Perfectly good legal arguments that held water, yet we don't get to take them to trial because Cities and Counties can apparently do just about what the fuck they want to your property i.e. pets, and you're pretty much screwed without recourse?

What the fuck happened to accountability?

If any lawyers know of, or are experts with overcoming prosecutorial immunity, I'd LOVE to hear from you. So far the consensus seems to be we're just fucked. Take your laws that are unconstitutional and just take it right up the ass, because you can't do shit about it.

FUCKED UP.

I WILL be trying to get me those 100,000 signatures to get a proposition to overturn the bullshit clause in the CA law that says cities can ignore the CA law when it comes to animal control - which was originally for judicial economy, which all gets thrown into a cocked hat when you get Nazi's like the Sunnyvale City Department of 'Safety' writing their own rules that are so draconian they practically beg to be challenged in court, thus negating any judicial economy they might have had in the first place.

Your local city's and counties are the ones eroding your rights, and you don't even have the power to take the fuckers to court, because they wrote the fucking rules.

So unbelievably pissed off I can't tell you.

We still get to take one person to trial for ignoring court orders and inflicting deliberate emotional distress (which she ADMITTED in her statement asking for a Demurrer! Not teh smartz!). She remains nameless. The judge gave the royal smackdown on THOSE demurrers.

But we really wanted to nail Sunnyvale most of all.

GAH!

:mad

On a more positive note, there will probably be a 'thank you' party somewhere around the 8th August, tho that might be moved back so Shannon can attend. There's a long list of invitees...
 
I'm not too much of a pet or dog lover, but it sucks what happened to you and government sticking it's nose in our business also sucks. When you start collecting those signatures, I will be happy to sign.
 
Wow. I'm sorry. I was really looking forward to you sticking it to the bastards.

Still, they might clean their act up slightly if you can keep pursing it against the individuals involved. The city may be immune (unbelievably, and so wrongly so), but perhaps you need to make their jobs a little more hazardous to get them to do right.

Good luck

EDIT:

Note, that the city may have to step up and represent any of their employees, so it's possible you can still drag some money out of them indirectly.
 
Marlowe said:
Wow. I'm sorry. I was really looking forward to you sticking it to the bastards.

Still, they might clean their act up slightly if you can keep pursing it against the individuals involved. The city may be immune (unbelievably, and so wrongly so), but perhaps you need to make their jobs a little more hazardous to get them to do right.

Good luck

EDIT:

Note, that the city may have to step up and represent any of their employees, so it's possible you can still drag some money out of them indirectly.
Click to expand...

Marlowe - the one thing that gives us hope is that the head of 'Our Pack', who trains APBTs and does direct rescue, is working closely with the Animal Control officer that was first on the scene during the Lucy trial, and recently there was a pretty much carbon-copy of our incident, and instead of killing the dog, they got to keep the dog with a dangerous dog label, carry extra insurance and build a fence with self-closing gates - which is reasonable, almost lenient in comparison to our treatment.

Hopefully we've at least got a temporary change of policy going on, if no actual changes in law.

The last remaining person in the lawsuit isn't a city employee (so is not protected), and city employees that we were also suing are protected by the same laws that protect the cities. :|

At the very least, we've sent a message that people are sick to fucking death of being ridden over with impunity.

At best we might start a decent backlash against legislation-happy city councils.
 
That sucks, man. I read the story, and the government really needs to step the fack off.

The choice for restitution should fall to the owners, and not to the city to take action.
 
...damn....i'll sign and will post it up everywhere i can when you get that prop up
 
This is unfortunate news. To bad we cant take from "them" what was taken from you. You have my sympathy Ian.

P.S. I believe Aug 8 is OFG's party.
 
My900ss said:
This is unfortunate news. To bad we cant take from "them" what was taken from you. You have my sympathy Ian.

P.S. I believe Aug 8 is OFG's party.
Click to expand...

OK, I certainly wouldn't want to make anyone choose between an orgy, sorry, fantastic party, and a kinda sad thanksgiving, lol!

Well, there's a slim chance some genius lawyer will tell us how to get around it, but there's a lot of case law against us. Ugh.

The best we can do now is change things at the ballot box and use our non-profit to raise awareness about the shitty things local governments are doing.

Might be time to contact the ACLU.
 
Ian, that's absolutely fucked up.:mad
If you gonna start petition you'll have four signatures from my family.
 
Why more people don't vote Libertarian is beyond, just fucking beyond me.

I'm sorry dude. There's got to be a way you can challenge the specific law about immunity.

I don't know why, but in my current state, the phrase "jury nullification" comes to mind. It's a beautiful, wonderful thing.
 
Thanks Roman, I might be taking you up on that. When's the next special election?

And John - interesting idea. I have to wonder if this immunity hasn't been challenged before somone ELSE'S jury trial. Not sure if precedence can work that way - if it's against the letter of the law - but it might be enough to let the judge hear it, and then it goes before a jury of peers... who might actually side with us (God help us if they wouldn't).

Thanks for the tip, at least it gives me something to research :thumbup
 
I swear, if, in THIS DAMN COUNTRY, there isn't a way for ordinary people to explore before a court of law the possibility that a particular law is a pile of Kennedy shit, then what's the damned point?
 
Dr. Evil said:
I swear, if, in THIS DAMN COUNTRY, there isn't a way for ordinary people to explore before a court of law the possibility that a particular law is a pile of Kennedy shit, then what's the damned point?
Click to expand...

Welcome to my world for every moment since we opened that fucking letter...
 
Joebar4000 said:
Welcome to my world for every moment since we opened that fucking letter...
Click to expand...

Can you maybe prove that the individuals were acting beyond the scope of their duties or departments' policies and procedures at the time? That may create some more wiggle room for at least personal liability, which should get their higher-ups' attention.

You should be able to subpoena/FOIA the P&P (at that time) if they're not readily available.


Keep at it. Myself and my 5 roommates will sign your petition.
 
Dammit, Ian. :thumbdown to that.

Keep fighting. I'll help you raise awareness however I can. Need a banner? Stickers?
 
SuperMike said:
Dammit, Ian. :thumbdown to that.

Keep fighting. I'll help you raise awareness however I can. Need a banner? Stickers?
Click to expand...

Hey man, sure thing! Not sure of what yet, tho as soon as we get our federal exempt status, we'll be using our charity to raise funds to start the fight to change the laws.

One of our attorneys is trying to get the law changed, as she has just been faced with uphill struggles all the time because of this kind of immunity BS.
 
:mad
Complete BS you cannot sue a City? I think your right go after the law that states that and kill it. people need to know that the law is made to help the person the indiviual not the City.:x

you let me know Ian, you know I will do what ever you ask.
 
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