09/13/2024
This is an excellent article summarizing our lawsuit. (My opinion) I've posted the verbiage below - long post but great read! ("see more")
Virginia Lawyers Weekly Magazine
Bring Grace home
Value of dog’s future litters may establish jurisdiction
Nick Hurston//September 9, 2024//
Grace the service dog
A training organization’s estimated value of the expected litters from a service dog named Grace was a sufficient good faith showing to establish diversity jurisdiction for its detinue action seeking return of the dog, the Western District of Virginia has held.
The defendants claimed the alleged damages were speculative, uncertain and not made in good faith. Further, they argued the plaintiff wasn’t entitled to relief in detinue.
Senior U.S. District Judge James P. Jones found no Virginia law that precluded the kind of monetary relief claimed by the plaintiff.
“There is no clear precedent that prevents [the plaintiff] from claiming as the value of Grace the expected value of Grace’s future litters,” the judge said. “At this stage of litigation, [the plaintiff] has made the requisite showing.”
Jones refused to dismiss Kindred Cain9 Connections, Inc. v. Booth, et al. (VLW 024-3-402).
Arlington litigator Charles Michael Fulton, who specializes in companion animal law, represented the defendants. He described this case as “a simple breach of contract issue where our client entered into a contract with certain conditions which the other side has now breached.”
“A settlement was attempted, but unsuccessful,” Fulton told Virginia Lawyers Weekly. “We will continue to try to resolve this matter without litigation.”
Meanwhile, Fulton has made a factual argument to dismiss in a second motion filed last month.
David Thomas, a partner with Michie Hamlett, represented the plaintiff. He plans to oppose the second motion for the same reasons as the first.
“I think everybody acknowledges that Grace belonged to my client initially, but the defendants are now claiming that there was some agreement to transfer ownership to Ms. Booth, even though she hasn’t paid anything for Grace. There’s no contract, no paperwork and Grace is still registered with Kindred Cain9,” Thomas told Virginia Lawyers Weekly. “We categorically deny that assertion.”
Grace
Texas-based Kindred Cain9 Connections trains service dogs for veterans, active-duty members and first responders. Grace is a labrador retriever that Cain9 planned to use in its breeding program, but couldn’t determine her suitability until she was two years of age.
In May 2023, Brooke Booth asked to be allowed to train Grace as part of her capstone project at Virginia Tech. Booth told Cain9 that Wendy Hasenbalg, an approved dog trainer for Cain9 and member of its board of directors, would serve as her mentor for the project.
Cain9 agreed to deliver Grace later that month, after which Booth and Hasenbalg took Grace to Virginia. But in late 2023, Hasenbalg informed Cain9 that she was resigning from the board of directors, prompting Cain9 to request that Grace be returned to complete her training.
Grace the service dog sitting with apples
Grace (Photo courtesy of Brooke Booth)
The defendants refused.
Cain9 filed a state-law detinue action in federal court seeking Grace’s return. To establish diversity, Cain9 alleged the amount of controversy was $137,000 — Grace’s estimated value of $25,000 and $112,000 for the value of Grace’s future litters.
The defendants moved to dismiss.
‘Legal-certainty test’
Jones explained that courts must defer to the sum of controversy in a complaint if the plaintiff has claimed the amount in good faith. Dismissal is “‘appropriate only where the court determines to a legal certainty that the plaintiff cannot recover the amount it seeks or seeks an amount that the plaintiff is not entitled to for the purpose of establishing jurisdiction.’”
Looking to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ opinion in JTH Tax, Inc. v. Frashier, Jones said “the defendants must show ‘the legal impossibility of recovery’ to be ‘so certain as virtually to negative the plaintiff’s good faith in asserting the claim.’”
Jones also cited Carroll v. Stryker Corp. from the Fourth Circuit, which said the “‘legal-certainty test sets the bar high for excluding federal subject-matter jurisdiction, and for good reason: District courts should not get bogged down at the time of removal in evaluating claims on the merits to determine if jurisdiction exists.’”
Rather than challenge the truth of Cain9’s allegations, the defendants made a facial challenge to jurisdiction. Thus, Jones said he must accept the facts alleged by Cain9 as true.
Good faith showing
Booth and Hasenbalg argued that Cain9’s damages allegations were speculative, uncertain and not made in good faith. The facts didn’t support Cain9’s estimated valuation of Grace and her future litters, they claimed, adding that it wasn’t clear whether Grace was suitable for breeding.
Jones disagreed, saying Cain9 met its burden of a good faith showing.
“In its Complaint, the plaintiff alleges that Grace is expected to produce four litters of eight puppies valued at $3,500 per puppy, or $112,000,” the judge pointed out.
Nor was Jones persuaded by the defendants’ contention that Cain9 couldn’t recover the value of Grace’s future litters in a detinue action.
“Dogs are deemed personal property in Virginia,” the judge pointed out.
An action for detinue “‘lies when one party unlawfully withholds personal property of another,’” he continued, citing the court’s 2017 decision in Shabazz v. Lokey.
Moreover, the goal of a detinue action “‘is to recover specific personal property and damages for its detention. If the specific property cannot be returned, judgment is rendered for its value,’” Jones said, looking to Broad St. Auto Sales, Inc. v. Baxter from 1985.
“I find that Virginia law does not preclude the kind of monetary recovery claimed by the plaintiff,” Jones wrote. “There is no clear precedent that prevents Cain9 from claiming as the value of Grace the expected value of Grace’s litters.”
Cain9 made the requisite showing at this stage of litigation, the judge
concluded.
VLW 024-3-402
Virginia Lawyers Weekly
024-3-402 – Kindred Cain9 Connections Inc. v. Booth
Contract: Owner demands return of dog
A training organization’s estimated value of the expected litters from a service dog named Grace was a sufficient good faith showing to establish diversity jurisdiction for its detinue action seeking return of the dog, the Western District of Virginia has held.
