Tag Archives: prosecutor

Your Neighbor’s Dog

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SheltieBoy

Realtor.com quoted me in Salma Hayek’s Dog Shot by Neighbor: Was He Right? It reads, in part,

Actress Salma Hayek is mourning the death of her dog Mozart—a dog she nurtured from birth, according to her Instagram post. The 9-year-old pooch, a Belgian Malinois, was found dead on her Washington state ranch on Friday with a visible wound close to his heart. And this sad story only got worse once police discovered the culprit: Hayek’s neighbor.

According to TMZ, the neighbor was sick of Hayek’s dogs, several of whom regularly trespassed on his territory and attacked his dogs. So on that fateful Friday, this neighbor responded to a dogfight in his garage by shooting an air rifle just to scare off the one attacking his dog, the Associated Press reports. Mozart, who was hit, ran off and died from internal bleeding. In fact, the shooter’s wife Kim Lund told the AP, “We didn’t even know we killed a dog. I’m in shock.”

Claiming a pellet gun would normally not be deadly, the police ruled the shooting justified, but plan to send the case to prosecutors for additional review.

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According to “When Killing a Dog Is Legally Justified” on Nolo.com, most state laws do not allow homeowners to shoot dogs that are merely running loose on their property. And even if they’re attacking your own dog or cat, you’re not off the hook.

“Someone who does injure a dog that’s chasing another dog … may be liable for damages to the dog’s owner,” writes . “And the killer may also be guilty of cruelty to animals.”

In other words, Hayek’s neighbor could pay for pulling the trigger. Plus there’s the bigger picture, points out David Reiss, research director at the Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship at Brooklyn Law School: “How’s it going to be to continue living next door to your neighbors after you shot their dog?”

Imagine how awkward it will be for this guy to run into Hayek from now until the end of his days there. Maybe he could have tried to fix the problem earlier with something other than rubber bullets.

“There certainly are steps you could take before shooting the dog,” Reiss says. “You could call animal control or law enforcement. In some places, if a dog owner has received a warning about his or her pet, he or she could face liability for allowing it to roam free.” 

Bottom line: Talk first, shoot only as a last resort. 

Reiss on Lawsky Legacy

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Law360 quoted me in Lawsky’s Aggressive Tactics Provided Model For Regulators (behind a paywall). It reads, in part,

New York Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky’s frequent, aggressive and often creative enforcement actions generated billions of dollars for the state and put his agency at the forefront in financial services regulation, and observers expect a similar approach from Lawsky’s successor when he leaves his post next month.

Confirmed to lead the New York Department of Financial Services in May 2011, few expected the new agency, which combined the state’s banking and insurance regulators, to make much of a mark. But after collecting $3.3 billion in penalties and forcing several traders and top executives out of their positions, Lawsky’s agency has proven to be a powerful enforcer.

“His biggest legacy is simply that he stood up a brand new regulator in one of the global financial centers and made it matter almost immediately,” said Matthew L. Schwartz, a partner at Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP and a former federal prosecutor. Lawsky, who announced his departure from the agency on May 20, established a name for himself and for the Department of Financial Services when he jumped ahead of federal banking regulators and prosecutors in announcing a $340 million settlement with British bank Standard Chartered PLC over its alleged violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran and other countries in August 2012.

That a newly formed state regulatory agency would move ahead with a stiff penalty and threaten to wield the most powerful of weapons — the pulling of Standard Chartered’s license to operate in New York state — reportedly rankled his federal counterparts

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“He made clear that consumer protection is integral to the mission of the agency,” Brooklyn Law School professor David Reiss said.

Despite Lawsky’s frequent reminders that he works for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — for whom he has also served as chief of staff — and the superintendent’s constant praise for his staff, there is fear among some reformers that the DFS won’t be the same without Lawsky at the helm.

“Lawsky proves that the character of individual regulators can make a crucial difference more than the letter of the law itself,” said Bartlett Naylor of Public Citizen.

“Ideally, he’ll inspire his successor and other regulators that honor awaits the vigilant and opprobrium will fall upon the indolent. More practically, however, the problems of regulatory capture by an enormously influential industry reliant on government favor can prove overwhelming,” Naylor added.

Others are more confident that the agency Lawsky set up will continue its work even after his move to the private sector.

In part, that’s because the penalties the DFS has wracked up have been a boon to New York’s budget.

Cuomo, the state’s former attorney general, has an interest in many of the issues Lawsky acted on, as well.

“I have every reason to expect that Cuomo would want to have a very vigorous enforcer to replace Lawsky,” Reiss said.