26. DWI—Doggies Without Insurance: The Law’s Curious Treatment of Uninsured Nonhuman Animals, ABA TIPS Animal Law Committee Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, August 7, 2005
Wrongful Death
Robbery
Mr. Karp has filed numerous private citizen criminal complaints and defended criminal defendants in felony and misdemeanor cases involving animal nuisance, dangerous dog violations, and robbery. He also authored a treatise
Misdemeanors
Charged with assault or murder for having defended your companion animal from fatal or serious bodily harm? Arrested for engaging in animal welfare-based civil disobedience and animal rights demonstrations? Facing a gross misdemeanor for having your “dangerous” dog outside the proper enclosure and not restrained? Has the prosecutor threatened you with a class C felony for a tussle where your dog, with no history of aggression and in response to teasing, bit a teenager? Looking to privately prosecute an animal abuser?
Assault
Murder
Restraining Order
Aside from potential criminal liability, such behavior could be grounds for modifying or terminating custody or visitation and enforcing a restraining order to prevent future contact with the children.
Understanding Animal Law takes an approach outside the nutshell. A hornbook with a litigator’s perspective, complete with hypotheticals and legal historical treatment covering centuries, this over 700-page text is comprised of 22 chapters that survey the burgeoning field of animal law in the traditional areas of criminal, tort, estate planning, contract, and federal animal welfare statutes, as well as the less covered areas of landlord-tenant, bankruptcy, aviation, railroad, Uniform Commercial Code, products liability, business law, vegan and vegetarian civil rights, consumer protection, insurance coverage, custodial disputes and domestic relations, Section 1983, dangerous dog litigation, end-of-life considerations, service animal access, and veterinary malpractice. Law students and lawyers alike will find value in the extensive and broad coverage of substantive legal precepts, as well as a captivating and detailed discussion of the application of the rules of evidence and professional conduct to animal lawyering, with a special focus on scientific evidence and breed discrimination. Most texts marketed to date are authored by professors with little or no actual in-court experience. This text has the benefit of being written by a lawyer who has faced many of the very issues raised by the text and, having found them judicious or dispositive in the case(s) he has handled, discusses them to aid practitioners. Mr. Karp has proven street smarts and a yen for academic exploration.
We all know that companion animals often mean more to us than a laser printer or even a piece of heirloom jewelry. Did the police shoot and kill your dog under questionable circumstances? Was your service animal killed while traveling in your car? Resist the temptation to let insurance companies treat her like a crumpled bumper and request compensation under your personal injury/bodily injury coverage. Did the neighbor’s Chow throttle and eviscerate your Chihuahua? Do not settle for mere “market value,” an inapplicable measure of damages perpetuated by insurance companies and defense attorneys as an excuse to provide you with only a nominal recovery, especially if you adopted a dog from the shelter. Demand intrinsic value and full compensation for the accidental killing or intentional murder of your beloved companion – be it loss of use, companionship, friendship, protection, security, other special skills or capabilities, and any emotional distress that may have followed from a malicious and cruel death.
Medical Malpractice
Mr. Karp estimates having evaluated and/or handled over 1000 such cases, including those that have changed or helped clarify the law, such as Sherman v. Kissinger, 146 Wash.App. 855 (I, 2008) and Sexton v. Brown, 147 Wash.App. 1005 (I, 2008, unpub.). He estimates having prepared over 100 veterinary board complaints, more than one of which resulted in the Veterinary Board of Governors issuing a Statement of Allegations or Statement of Charges against the respondent. Mr. Karp also donates his time to assist current and former veterinary employees wishing to file whistleblower complaints against veterinarians who engage in unprofessional and unethical conduct without the fear of retaliation. Mr. Karp has authored Litigation Concerning Veterinary Medical Malpractice, 123 Am.Jur. Trials 305 (2012).
Auto Accidents
Dog Bites
65. Dog Bites in Four-Dimensional Legal Space: Civil, Criminal, Regulatory, and Temporal, New Mexico State Bar Association, Animal Law: Legislation, Litigation, Ethics, and Professionalism, Albuquerque, NM, Apr. 22, 2010
91. Leaving the Estate “For the Animals,” Animal Issues in Tax, Estate Planning & Probate Law, ISB Animal Law & ISB Taxation, Probate & Trust Law Sections, Boise (Nov. 12, 2013).
Wills
Probate
90. When Death Will Not Part: Examination of Put-to-Sleep Will Provisions, Animal Issues in Tax, Estate Planning & Probate Law, ISB Animal Law & ISB Taxation, Probate & Trust Law Sections, Boise (Nov. 12, 2013).
Fight efforts of lien holders to use the courts and law enforcement to kidnap family members to pay off debts. Ensure that guilty parties pay for harm they inflicted to you and your animals. Mr. Karp has extensive experience in lien foreclosure, animal forfeiture, and pursuing nondischargeable debts in bankruptcy.