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Can you sue to city to enforce animal cruelty laws?
New York, NY
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Posted 2 months ago in Litigation
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Due to unusual history, the city of NY refers animal cruelty complaints to a well respected but nonetheless private non-profit group. When you call 311, they refer you to this group. This strikes me as unconstitutional that the city has abdicated responsibility to enforce a set of laws---and none of the complaints are answered off-hours. There is also no public accountability or transparency. Can you sue to city to stop this practice and refer complaint calls to the Police Department.
Answers (1)
Laura Mcfarland-Taylor
This attorney is licensed in Illinois.
Posted about 1 month ago.
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In NYC you can report animal cruelty to either the police department or to ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement department, so it is incorrect to say that you cannot report cruelty complaints to the police department.
Even if the police department "refers out" the complaints, this is not unconstitutional. I also don't know why you say there is "no public accountability or transparency" since the ASPCA is pretty transparent. In addition, it is very difficult and very expensive to sue any governmental entity and such suits are rarely successful, so unless you have a REALLY good case (and this isn't one of them), don't waste your time/money. |
