Humane Watch: Dismissal of Another HSUS Lawsuit Upheld

by Humane Watch

While only 1% of the budget of the Humane Society of the United States goes to pet shelters, people often ask us, where does the money go? A lot of it goes to pay the salaries of lawyers. HSUS has dozens of lawyers on staff, including two lawyers who, along with HSUS, recently settled a federal racketeering and bribery lawsuitbrought against them for up to $15.75 million. In other words, donations fund legal activism that may bear no fruit.

One such case was a lawsuit against a Florida-based company called Purebred Breeders. Purebred sells puppies online and works with vetted breeders to place puppies with customers. HSUS has backed litigation against Purebred, supporting a lawsuit from some customers who complained that they were allegedly sold sick dogs. That suit was thrown out about two years ago by the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, and the plaintiffs appealed. Last week, a court of appeals in Florida upheld the dismissal.

What’s notable is that the circumstances of the dismissal were upheld.  Purebred had claimed in its motion to dismiss that the HSUS-backed lawsuit was essentially a P.R. stunt, hemming and hawing without actually making any relevant claims. (After all, in this country, someone accused of a crime or defending a lawsuit is often assumed guilty in the public’s eye before the trial begins.)

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Posted by chesliepickett on Aug 26 2014. Filed under Breaking News, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.