Putting a price on a dog's life

[Craig S.]

I'm sure most people remember the incident last year in which a family's dog was shot by police during a traffic stop. Now, the family is suing the Cookeville police, along with the Tennessee SP, over the incident:

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/state/article/0,1406,KNS_348_2358901,00.html

I have all the sympathy in the world for this family, and I believe the local police completely dropped the ball. The reason for pulling them over seems questionable, they could have shut the dog in the car as the family asked them to do multiple times, and the "threatening" dog seemed awfully happy and excited on the videotape.

All my personal bias aside, I'm wondering whether a jury would reward a large monetary settlement for a dog's death. Would you be inclined to do so? Do you think the suit has merit?

[KCBOOMER]

I have no idea if the suit has merit. Our media friends aren't real good at giving out all the facts in a case. On what little we know a jury could get sill and award major bucks, but an appeal judge would bring it down to a reasonable figure.

[Wolf Hopper]

Perhaps the price should not be on the worth of a dog's life, but on the suffering and loss of the family who owned the dog? Then again, those two might be the same thing.

[pwdennis]

What is the price of a new dog ?

A dog is property

The value of a pet (excluding that of a seeing eye dog or similar) should be the replacement cost. Nothing more or less

I have six cats and while I am quite fond of all six of the critters the fact remains that they are NOT family members, they are simply pets.

[Jim Rice]

...A dog is property...

I know of few other pieces of property that can be trained to find lost kids in the woods, or buried victims of a building collapse, or take a bullet for a police officer, or warn parents of a child's impending seizure, or warn an entire family of a house fire, or provide unwavering love for everyone in the family.

I would be angry, but not hurt, if someone unjustifiably took my autographed Ernie Banks baseball. It's just property.

If someone unjustifiably shot my dog in front of my child, I'd be mortified. I'd be both angry AND hurt, because while the law might think my dog is just property, I don't, and my child most certainly does not.

Hey, I work for an insurance company, so silly lawsuits and big verdicts aren't high on my hit parade. To me, this doesn't fall into that category. I think the cops acted both heinously and illegally and deserve to lose not only their badges but their shirts.

[Wolf Hopper]

I agree with Jim Rice on this one. Just my :2cents:

[Craig S.]

I agree with Jim Rice on this one. Just my :2cents:

Me too - it was well-said.