Nichols v. Sukaro Kennels
| Decision Date | 20 November 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-1326,95-1326 |
| Citation | 555 N.W.2d 689 |
| Parties | John NICHOLS and Evelyn Nichols, Appellants, v. SUKARO KENNELS, Appellee. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Ta-Yu Yang, West Des Moines, for appellants.
Timothy J. McKay of McKay, Moreland & Webber, P.C., Ottumwa, for appellee.
Considered by LARSON, P.J., and CARTER, LAVORATO, SNELL, and TERNUS, JJ.
Plaintiffs appeal from a district court judgment awarding them damages for injuries their pet dog received while it was boarded at defendant kennel. They contend the district court erred in refusing to award damages based on their emotional distress or the replacement value or intrinsic value of the dog and in ordering them to pay costs. We affirm.
John and Evelyn Nichols boarded their seven-year-old toy poodle, Yawbus, with Sukaro Kennels. During her stay at the kennel, the kennel owner's dog tore off Yawbus's left front leg and shoulder blade. Yawbus was taken to a veterinarian and bills totaling $326.24 were incurred.
The Nichols filed a petition at law against the kennel seeking damages under the theories of negligence and strict liability. The petition sought damages to compensate the Nichols for the injuries and suffering the dog incurred and the loss of aesthetic intrinsic value of the dog.
The kennel filed an answer and an offer to confess judgment in the amount of $642.44 plus the costs of the action to date. The Nichols rejected the offer to confess. At trial the kennel stipulated as to liability but disputed the damages.
The Nichols and their daughter testified regarding their tremendous bond to the dog. The treating veterinarian and one expert witness, Tom Colvin, associate director of the Animal Rescue League of Iowa (located in Des Moines), testified the market value for a toy poodle was about $100 or $200 regardless of whether it has three or four legs. Colvin also testified that, if a pet is thought of as a family member by its owners, its value is whatever the owners think it is. Colvin indicated on cross-examination this value could be as high as the national debt. Linda Nebbe, a school counselor who has studied the human-animal bond, then testified regarding the bond between the Nichols and Yawbus. She stated the Nichols' relationship with their dog was at a "humanistic" level, explaining that the extent of their emotional attachment and love for their pet is such that they "deem that animal as a part of their family or look at the animal as another person."
Following the trial, the court refused to award replacement damages, punitive damages, or damages for emotional distress. The court did award the Nichols $326.24 in damages for medical expenses and assessed costs against the Nichols for costs incurred after the date of filing of the offer to confess judgment.
The Nichols appeal.
We review a case tried at law in the district court on errors assigned. Iowa R.App. P. 4; Claus v. Whyle, 526 N.W.2d 519, 523 (Iowa 1994).
The Nichols contend that the district court erred in failing to award damages for their emotional injury and mental suffering. They further contend the court erred in limiting the measure of damages to the medical expenses incurred. Rather, they assert the court should have awarded damages based on evidence of their pet's intrinsic value to them.
The Nichols contend that damages for mental distress should be awarded when it can be shown that the owner's bonding with his or her pet is such that the owner deems the pet to be a member of the owner's family. In most cases, it is held that the sentimental attachment of an owner to his or her dog has no place in the computation of damages for the dog's death or injury and that no award can be made for the value of the plaintiff's mental suffering. See generally J.A. Connelly, Annotation, Measure and Elements of Damages for Killing or Injuring Dog, 1 A.L.R.3d 997 (1965) [hereinafter Annotation]. The Nichols cite two cases in which damages for mental distress were allowed in actions for the killing of a dog. See La Porte v. Associated Indep., Inc., 163 So.2d 267 (Fla.1964); Campbell v. Animal Quarantine Station, Etc., 63 Haw. 557, 632 P.2d 1066 (1981).
Both cases are distinguishable. In Campbell, the Hawaii Supreme Court allowed recovery for serious mental distress resulting from the negligent destruction of plaintiffs' dog despite the fact plaintiffs did not witness the tortious event. In Iowa, however, plaintiffs must actually witness a tortious event in order to recover damages for emotional distress. Compare Campbell, 632 P.2d at 1069 with Barnhill v. Davis, 300 N.W.2d 104, 108 (Iowa 1981). Moreover, under Iowa law a plaintiff could not recover for mental distress caused by witnessing a tortious event unless the plaintiff and victim were husband and wife or were related to within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity. Barnhill, 300 N.W.2d at 108. Thus, at least two elements for recovery of damages for mental distress in Iowa are not required in Hawaii.
In La Porte the court held that damages for mental suffering may be recovered when there is a malicious destruction of a dog. La Porte, 163 So.2d at 269. Here, however, there was neither a claim, nor evidence, that the injury to Yawbus was malicious.
We find that La Porte is distinguishable on its facts and Campbell distinguishable on the law. Moreover, although we are mindful of the suffering an owner endures upon the death or injury of a beloved pet, we resolve to follow the majority of jurisdictions that do not allow recovery of damages for such mental distress. See generally Annotation, 1 A.L.R.3d 997, at 1010. We conclude the district court correctly denied the Nichols damages for mental distress.
The Nichols contend that the district court erred in failing to award damages for the replacement cost or the pet's special value to them. We disagree.
The measure of damages for injury to, or destruction of, an animal is the amount which will compensate the owner for the loss and thus return the owner, monetarily, to the status he or she was in before the loss.
4 Am.Jur.2d Animals § 162, at 504 (1964).
In determining the measure of damages for injuries to a dog, factors include its market value, which may be based on purchase price, relatively long life of breed, its training, usefulness and desirable traits.
We have stated that the "damage resulting from injury to an animal is the difference in value before and after the injury." Miller v. Economy Hog & Cattle Powder Co., 228 Iowa 626, 641, 293 N.W. 4, 11 (1940).
There may be other elements of damage such as expense of treatment or temporary loss of use or of produce. But whether an animal is injured or destroyed the total damages ordinarily recoverable may not exceed its value prior thereto.
Id.; see also Richardson v. Fairbanks North Star Borough, 705 P.2d 454, 456 (Alaska 1985) (); Soucek v. Banham, 524 N.W.2d 478, 481 (Minn.App.1995) (); Daughen v. Fox, 372 Pa.Super. 405, 417, 539 A.2d 858, 864 (1988) ().
The Nichols note that we recognized the intrinsic value of trees in Bangert v. Osceola County, 456 N.W.2d 183, 190 (Iowa 1990), and...
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