AR-News: (CA - US) Cat dies from flea bath at PETCO; judge dismisses lawsuit

[Snugglezzz at aol.com]

Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2004 8:01 PM
Subject: Cat dies from flea bath at PETCO

http://www.dailyrepublic.com/articles/2004/03/06/news/news4.txt
 Judge guts suit over pet death 
By Jess Sullivan
 

FAIRFIELD -- A judge's ruling Friday stripped the arguments out of a dead cat lawsuit against a Petco store in Vallejo.

Judge Harry S. Kinnicutt ruled claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and loss of companionship made by Mary E. Faucett against Petco should be dismissed.
In his ruling Kinnicutt pointed out that California law has not yet recognized the loss of companionship of a pet as being the basis for a civil lawsuit. Kinnicutt also ruled Faucett cannot pursue claims of gross and simple negligence against Petco, although he gave her 20 days to amend her lawsuit to comply with his ruling. Faucett took her 3-year-old cat, Serena, to the Petco on the afternoon of Aug. 18, 2002, for a flea bath.

That night Serena began having tremors and had troubled walking. Faucett rushed Serena to a local veterinarian who determined that Serena had received a fatal dose of a toxin that devastated her liver.

Kinnicutt also agreed to a request by Petco lawyers to cut out some of the language in Faucett's lawsuit including references to Faucett as "the guardian of the beloved feline companion Serena," and "Serena was an intelligent, agile, alert, active, curious, social, affectionate and independent feline."

Additional wording in the lawsuit speculating on Petco's incentive to test products on animals and Faucett's view on the morality of testing products on animals was also removed from the lawsuit.

Kinnicutt ruled Faucett can still pursue getting reimbursed from Petco for the value of Serena as a piece of property before and after Serena was damaged.

Faucett and Petco are scheduled to be back in front of Kinnicutt on April 19.