Monday, October 4, 2010

Update on Denver Dias vs. Denver case

Thought you might want to hear of a new update in the Denver court case Dias vs. Denver. This case was filed in 2007--that one that's making its turtle-slow plod through the federal judicial system.
 
Anyway...on September 29th, the judge ruled in our favor in Denver's motion for summary judgment. To briefly recap what this means...Denver filed in January that we should not be allowed to go to trial because this issue had already been decided in previous cases in court and we had no possibility of winning. The judge ruled with us that this case should be tried. In fact, in the ruling, he wrote these glorious words...
 
"...a reasonable trier of fact may find that Plaintiffs' experts are correct and there exists no rational basis for a breed specific ordinance. Accordingly, summary judgment would be inappropriate."
 
So...this is a really good thing for this case and yet another loss on Denver's part. I've attached the ruling in case you might be interested in seeing it. What might particularly be of interest is the section where the judge talks about some of the expert witness testimony beginning on page 8.
 
For a much better write-up of this summary judgment, check out this web site, http://gamedogguardian.com/node/180 The author of the article on the site, Katie B, worked with our lawyer, Karen Breslin to help write our answer to Denver's summary judgment motion. She also was instrumental in getting Topeka, Kansas to overturn their breed ban, which they did this week! All in all, there's a lot of momentum moving toward sane dog laws, and it's going to get even better!
 
Now...on to trial. When the judge sets the trial date, I'll let you know!
Your friend,
SD
 
Additional great news!!...
 
October 4th, Bill Bruce, the director of Animal Bylaws for Calgary, Alberta, is coming to do a presentation in front of Denver's City Council and it is open to the public.
 
As you might recall, Bill has created the model animal community in Calgary and goes throughout the United States and Canada to speak about their success at various animal control associations, humane society meetings, etc. He's achieved this success and made dog bites almost a thing of the past in his city--roughly the size of the Denver metro area--through sane laws, great community service-based animal control officers, and a culture that doesn't allow for discriminating against dogs by how they look.
 
Bill was here in 2009 and did an abbreviated presentation to some of the city council members and on Monday he will do his full and recently-updated presentation at the City and County Building at 1437 Bannock Street. It is open to the public. I cannot get the exact time or room number yet--I get different info from Bill and the City Council, so I will have to let you know that later. As far as I can tell it will be between 2:00 and 3:30 p.m. and in room number 451 or 391.

2 comments:

  1. did that presentation by Bill Bruce happen? I haven't heard anything about it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I assume so Emily. I haven't heard how it went either.

    ReplyDelete