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mskay911

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Ohio
This story is strange to hear but if you were here to witness it you dreams would be haunted.
Im not sure I'm in the right spot but I thought I would ask to see if I had any Legal recourse.
I have 3 cats who are very curious of course, and are usually by my side all the time but this past weds. I was running late to pick up my son from school and I was doing household chores, so I quickly turned my dryer back on to re-fluff the clothes because I was to lazy to fold them. When we returned home 15-20 min. later I went to the dryer to finish what I started and I heard it banging like there was a shoe in there and thought maybe something the dryer was broke, but to my horrifying amazement when I pulled out the clothes I found my cat was inside and she had past away. I could have died at that moment but I was mad, when I try to dry shoes the door always pops open but not this time. Shouldn't there be some kind of safety feature to stop the dryer when it seems that the load is off center? What if children had climbed in to be stupid and someone didnt shut it off or open the door? Could that be a legal issue that I should look into?

thank you for any feed back you might have.
 


justalayman

Senior Member
maybe we should have a training course to teach people to be responsible for their own actions and maybe teach them to look into a dryer before starting it.

a dryer load is designed to be off center. That is how it "tumbles" the clothes.

what you need is some common sense that you close the dryer door when away from it and to take a second and look in the dryer when you start it if somebody had time to crawl in there without you seeing them.


Is there some reason the cat wasn't clunking arond the drum when you first turned it on but only could be heard later? I would think it would be something you wouold hear immediately but then, I have never put a cat in a dryer.
 

racer72

Senior Member
This is a lesson of why no one should ever leave a major appliance operating when no one is home. I would bet that the operating manual has words to that effect somewhere in it.
 

fairisfair

Senior Member
Just an aside, my aunt once dried a load of kittens. Mama cat had decided that warm somewhat dark hole was the perfect place to give birth. It was horrible. And as even more horrible as it sounds, no it really didn't make any kind of discernible noise.

And that is my disgusting story for the day.
 

lya

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Ohio
This story is strange to hear but if you were here to witness it you dreams would be haunted.
Im not sure I'm in the right spot but I thought I would ask to see if I had any Legal recourse.
I have 3 cats who are very curious of course, and are usually by my side all the time but this past weds. I was running late to pick up my son from school and I was doing household chores, so I quickly turned my dryer back on to re-fluff the clothes because I was to lazy to fold them. When we returned home 15-20 min. later I went to the dryer to finish what I started and I heard it banging like there was a shoe in there and thought maybe something the dryer was broke, but to my horrifying amazement when I pulled out the clothes I found my cat was inside and she had past away. I could have died at that moment but I was mad, when I try to dry shoes the door always pops open but not this time. Shouldn't there be some kind of safety feature to stop the dryer when it seems that the load is off center? What if children had climbed in to be stupid and someone didnt shut it off or open the door? Could that be a legal issue that I should look into?

thank you for any feed back you might have.
The nature of cats is the problem. They are curious, steathly quiet when stalking, and strike as fast as a snake. I don't fault you for the cat's getting in the dryer; it happens to the best of us.

I have a friend who put clothes in the dryer and kept hearing a bump, didn't recall putting anything heavy in the dryer, and went to check. Her 10 year-old cat, Miss Manners, was a little worse for the adventure but not injured.

If you had been home, you would have found her in time, maybe; but it isn't your fault, either. It was an accident, plainly and simply.

I'm sorry for your loss but don't blame the manufacturers of clothes dryers.
 

Just Blue

Senior Member
Just an aside, my aunt once dried a load of kittens. Mama cat had decided that warm somewhat dark hole was the perfect place to give birth. It was horrible. And as even more horrible as it sounds, no it really didn't make any kind of discernible noise.

And that is my disgusting story for the day.
When I was 13 or 14 I mistakenly "dried" my cat...poor thing...he did live though...but I was racked with guilt for being no CARELESS as to not check the drier before running it. When you have pets or small children you should alway check before turning a large appliance on.
 

CJane

Senior Member
When I was 13 or 14 I mistakenly "dried" my cat...poor thing...he did live though...but I was racked with guilt for being no CARELESS as to not check the drier before running it. When you have pets or small children you should alway check before turning a large appliance on.
We once had a cat that loved to sleep in the washing machine. Don't ask me why, but he would very often be sleeping in the empty tub, belly curved around the agitator... we had to check the washing machine before we turned it on for fear of killing the cat.
 

quincy

Senior Member
We had a hamster get loose from his cage and we looked all over for him for weeks. My mom said he ran off with a mouse and they lived happily ever after. In the meantime, our clothes were smelling really funky. After about two months of foul-smelling laundry, my mom discovered "Chuckles" in the dryer vent. Chuckles did not, needless to say, live happily ever after.
 

hous

Junior Member
Im not positive but I beleive the courts view animals as pocessions and therefore you would receive no wrongful injury/ death/ pain and suffering or any other tort judgment. Only the value of the breed of animal. Can anyone confirm this?
 

racer72

Senior Member
Im not positive but I beleive the courts view animals as pocessions and therefore you would receive no wrongful injury/ death/ pain and suffering or any other tort judgment. Only the value of the breed of animal. Can anyone confirm this?
Did you notice the date on this thread? Please don't revive dead threads. The OP has no claim at all, the problem was a result of her own stupidity.
 

hous

Junior Member
Did you notice the date on this thread? Please don't revive dead threads. The OP has no claim at all, the problem was a result of her own stupidity.
I simply had my own question which ws related to this thread. Besides it was like the third topic down.
 

quincy

Senior Member
hous -

This is an old post, but I thought I would answer your question anyway.

You are right that pets are considered property and, for wrongful deaths, generally courts will award only the "fair market value" of the animal, often taking into consideration the animal's age and health, etc., at the time of death (depreciation). There have been some animal wrongful death suits, however (both state and federal) that indicate some courts will consider loss of companionship and emotional distress when awarding damages, as well as any special skills or characteristics of the animal (performing animals, race dogs, show dogs, leader dogs). These cases are actually increasing, perhaps because of our view of pets in this country now.

My Chuckles would have been probably worth $1.50 in a Michigan court, if I had been able to bring a wrongful death action at the time - which I couldn't because, one, I was about 6 years old, and two, it was our fault that Chuckles got loose.
 

cymbol

Junior Member
Hey, Quincy, I see you over here in my journey of lawful curiosity.

Not to hijack the thread, since it is quite related...

Please help me reconcile the differences between "Animal as property" and "Cruelty to Animals", as they seem like incongruous definitions.

thanks,
 

quincy

Senior Member
Common law recognizes both domestic and captured wild animals as personal property, and the courts in most states make their decisions based on this. Because animals are considered "personal property", the tort law that applies to personal property and the valuation that applies to personal property (ie. fair market value) is also applied to animals. Companion animals are a sub-category of domestic animals, and although pets are valued more by their owners than, say, a toaster or a chair, they still tend to hold little more value than these in the courts.

When animal abuse is a part a suit, however, courts often look to award damages beyond the fair market value of personal property allowed under common law. Many courts will also consider punitive damages based on various factors. Some of the factors that can be considered in animal wrongful death suits are the degree of malice shown, the amount needed to adequately punish the one at fault, the wealth of the perpetrator, and the pain and suffering demonstrated. For extremely cruel acts of abuse, the punitive damages awarded will usually be higher. This could be due in part to the pressure often put on the court by animal rights groups and the public. Generally, and sadly, however, compensatory damages tend to be low as do punitive damages in most cases.

So, even if the laws in our country still consider animals property, people in our country generally don't. And this is increasingly being reflected in people's reaction to cruelty to animal cases, and the awards of punitive damages for this "property".
 
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