Fighting for Accountability You trust your veterinarian to diagnose and treat your pets. But what if your veterinarian makes a mistake and that mistake hurts, or even kills, your beloved family member? In recent years, the field of veterinary medicine has become increasingly difficult to regulate. In the meantime, pet owners are valuing their pets…
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced revisions to the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) rule on the transportation of “emotional support” and service animals on airplanes. This decision comes after years of tension surrounding emotional support animals being allowed to fly in plane cabins for free. Unlike service animals, there is no requirement…
The 11th District Court of Appeals rejected the argument that a volunteer cannot be criminally liable for animal cruelty or neglect. Facts. Jo Ann Brantweiner was charged with 8 counts of companion animal cruelty involving a total of 97 dogs and cats. The animals were kept by a nonprofit organization known as the Animal Rescue…
The 11th District Court of Appeals upheld a number of notable, special sanctions in an animal hoarding case we prosecuted in the Willoughby Municipal Court for the Eastlake Police Department. Facts: Defendant Nadine Betchel operated a loosely organized nonprofit animal rescue operation called the Animal Resource Center in Eastlake, Ohio. Officers executed a search warrant…
How do you connect with loved ones in lock down at nursing homes? Residents in nursing homes, assisted living, group homes or other care facilities are isolated in the best of times. Now, with the lock down of facilities to protect against Covid-19 infection, they are completely cut off from family and loved ones. What…
Ohio’s COVID 19 “Stay at Home” order does not prevent you from caring for animals. The Ohio Department of Health issued an emergency order effective March 24, 2020 requiring all Ohio citizens to shelter at home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But there are exceptions: Paragraph 5(e) permits a person to travel in…
Every parent of a child with a disability worries – what happens when I’m gone? Other children grow up to become self-sufficient. A child with a disability grows into an adult with a disability. They will need someone there for them. Who will speak for your disabled child when you’re gone? Finding someone who “gets…
By now, you’ve probably seen someone’s Facebook page change to memorial status when they pass away. Facebook even lets you appoint a “Legacy contact” to manage your memorialized account. Or, you can choose to delete your account completely once you die. This Online Tool handles your Facebook account, but what about everything else? Snapchat? Google…
On September 20, 2019, the 11th District Court of Appeals in Ohio held that a sentencing court may order an animal cruelty offender to forfeit horses as a condition of probation without going through the more cumbersome process of a full forfeiture proceeding. The history of this case is complicated. Defendant Bianca Marcellino was convicted…