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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To sue or not to sue ?

270 replies

PussyGalour · 14/06/2009 11:50

That is the question.
Grap a cuppa this is long

I've posted on here before about this but situation has changed slightly so things have moved on.

We moved house 2 years ago and our beautiful cat whom we had bought at great expensive (£500) to bred from ran away or so we thought. As it happens after we'd literally walked/drove around the streets, put up posters for months another child at our daughters school went to another parent at the schools house and said oh look that's DD's cat.
So upon learning this we approached them and they basically said they thought he was a stray (yeah right he's clearly a pedigree) and he is chipped and had a collar on - this of course may have come off but that's why you chip them isn't it.
So they refused to hand him back and we didn't really know what to do because we didn't want a custody over a cat thinking they were taking good care of him.
One day out of the blue she called me to say the cat was ill and she'd taken him to the vets where they'd decided to neuter him, knowing damn well he's our cat I said they had better not, she said it was already done
Today he has appeared in our garden and we've caught him and caged him and I'm keeping him.
But I'm so angry about the fact we cannot bred from our own animal.
Bit of background he is the purest of pure, I spent literally 12 months looking for a cat of his quality, paid over the odds and drove 8 hours with the children in the back to collect him.
To bred from cats you have to wait until they are 12 months old, so he was literally just about ready when he went missing.
I reckon this whole excercise has cost me £5,000 in loss of income and cost of replacing and waiting for a new kitten to become old enough to bred.
So who would you sue, the woman for stealing our cat and operating on him or the vet for doing the op on a cat that was chipped and they didn't own ?

OP posts:
LadyThompson · 15/06/2009 10:40

They didn't steal the cat. They thought it was a stray and you let them keep it. I think you will find that the law is not at all clear cut in this case. What about when squatters take over an abandoned property? After a certain amount of time they are indeed allowed to keep it. So why didn't you get the chip read at the time and prove he was yours? It would have been easy.

The fact that you did not pursue the cat when you had found it completely undermines your case. I think you now think you might be able to make a bit of money by suing (unlikely) and it is all rather unsavoury, in my opinion so yes, YABU.

bigstripeytiger · 15/06/2009 10:44

PG

The problem is that you didnt get your cat back at the time.
Its not surprising that after 2 years they think the cat belongs to them.

gerontius · 15/06/2009 11:55

TBH, if I'd recently got a cat who I thought was a stray, and some woman turned up on the doorstep demanding her cat back, I'm not sure how inclined I'd be to give it back, especially if I were in their situation. Still massively confused as to why you just let them keep it at the time.

BionicleBill · 15/06/2009 14:10

Bloody hell

What an eejit

as though there aren't enough homeless cats in the world, you make money out of breeding some more

great

serves you right cruella

PussyGalour · 15/06/2009 14:29

There are millions of homeless children in the world did you want one of those or were you vain enough to prefer yopur own offspring with dodgy names ?

OP posts:
oliverboliverbutt · 15/06/2009 14:34

PG - I think you should stop engaging with posters who are not on your side. You are making it hard to have any sympathy for you.

However,I think that you have a case against the vet if your cat was micro-chipped with your name & address on it at the time of the operation.
Vets should not preform an operation on an animal without the owners consent.
There was a similar thread on here about a cat being neutered without consent & the OP of that thread had a written apology from the vet admitting fault.

Lulumama · 15/06/2009 14:38

how will you prove it was your cat

surely the time elapsed means that you have forfeited some rights

i think the fact you did not take this in hand 2 years ago will damage the validity of any claim you might make, it sounds more like sour grapes

if the cat was ill and therefore needed neutering, then there as not a lot the other person could do is there?

i would not sue anyone

i bet if you did she would counter sue for the 2 years worth of food and vet bills etc anyway

PussyGalour · 15/06/2009 14:38

I'm not really interested in sympathy, never was but am sick to death of being baited, I am absolutely in the right to the letter or the law and have actually start action today so the wanna be laywers on here can go back to day time tv and CSI.
Thanks for your input Oliver

OP posts:
Lulumama · 15/06/2009 14:39

they took your cat in

you knew they had the cat

you did not take the cat off them or pursue them legally at the time as they were taking good care of it

you must have had some communication with them>

and that was the time to take legal action and get your property back

oliverboliverbutt · 15/06/2009 14:40

Would be interested in the outcome.

Lulumama · 15/06/2009 14:41

surely if the cat was chipped you could have proved then it was yours and taken action then?

after two years, what does the law say?

ClaireDeLoon · 15/06/2009 14:41

If you knew you were right why did you ask?

Sassybeast · 15/06/2009 14:42

Enjoy your day in court 'snigger'

PussyGalour · 15/06/2009 14:46

Oh I'm pretty sure they'll settle out of court.

OP posts:
Lulumama · 15/06/2009 14:53

pussy, what if they counter sue for 2 years worth of food, grooming stuff , vet bills etc?

PussyGalour · 15/06/2009 14:54

I'm more than happy to pay for his up keep, of course I am.
But I'm suing for a lot more than the inital £5,000

OP posts:
lowenergylightbulb · 15/06/2009 14:54

I'd sue the posh pussy for being a very naughty boy.

PussyGalour · 15/06/2009 14:55

The posh pussy is being spoilt, he can do no wrong.

OP posts:
seeker · 15/06/2009 15:03

And the first question a lawyer will ask you is why you didn't insist that the cat's micro chip was checked two years ago so that you could prove ownership then. So - what's your answer going to be?

Lulumama · 15/06/2009 15:05

agree seeker...

what does the law say on this amtter, as you said that you knew the law was on your side..

after 2 years,with you knowing they had your cat, surely you have relinquished some if not all of your legal rights to the cat

Sassybeast · 15/06/2009 15:21

Only thing the posh pussy is doing is firing blanks. It's a shame they'll settle out of court. I'd back you all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. What with him being an incredible homing cat and all that Do let us know the outcome

Worzsel · 15/06/2009 15:30

Fantastic !

How much do you think your going to get PG ?

Quattrocento · 15/06/2009 15:52

As a humble tax lawyer, I'm the first to admit that cat abandonment/theft/neutering are not my field. But I would be extremely interested to know what sort of action PG is pursuing - if indeed any action is being taken. Extremely interested.

Lulumama · 15/06/2009 15:53

is this some weird cliquey joke thread? ?

Morloth · 15/06/2009 16:02

LOL, your lawyer is going to love you.

You should have called the police 2 years ago when the cat was stolen (I will give you stolen).

Doesn't matter why you didn't, you didn't. You now have the cat back. All you are going to get is some nice big fees.