Romeo’s Legacy — Emotional Distress Damages For The Pet Owner
Many of us share our homes with four-legged creatures and, with their every act of affection and seemingly boundless joy, our pets have a way of burrowing themselves deep into our hearts. After just a short while, we can’t even imagine our lives without them in it. So, what does the law say should happen to someone who intentionally interferes with our joys of pet ownership by harming or destroying our pet? In February 2000, in a fit of road rage after having been bumped from the rear in traffic by another driver, Andrew Burnett angrily confronted the other driver and took the driver’s bichon frise dog, Leo, from her lap and hurled it into oncoming traffic on a busy road near the San Jose International Airport, where Leo died. Some nine years later (really? it had to take that long?), Burnett was convicted of felony animal cruelty and was