Snyder v. American Kennel Club

• Decision Date: 09 September 2008
• Docket Number: No. 08-4094-SAC.,08-4094-SAC.
• Citation: 575 F.Supp.2d 1236
• Parties: Dennis SNYDER and Audra Snyder, Plaintiffs, v. The AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Kansas

Page 1236

575 F.Supp.2d 1236

Dennis SNYDER and Audra Snyder, Plaintiffs, v. The AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB, Defendant.

No. 08-4094-SAC.

United States District Court, D. Kansas.

September 9, 2008.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

James J. Armbrust, Cook & Fisher LLP, Paul D. Post, Topeka, KS, for Plaintiff.

Brian P. Pezza, Philip Mackey, Lewis, Rice & Fingersh, LC, St. Louis, MO, Douglas C. McKenna, Scott A. Wissel, Lewis, Rice & Fingersh, LC, Kansas City, MO, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

SAM A. CROW, Senior District Judge.

This removed case comes before the court on the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. Plaintiffs, Kansas residents, are professional dog show handlers whose American Kennel Club (AKC) privileges have been suspended for a period of ten years.

Procedural Background

On April 3, 2007, the AKC charged both plaintiffs with animal cruelty relating to a dog called "Jag," stating:

On or about May 28, 2005, [they] failed to seek or provide appropriate medical attention to a Golden Retriever . ... which was in his/her care at the time in a manner that would constitute cruelty as defined by the AKC while at the Muskogee Kennel Club Dog Show.

Exh. C1, C2. The AKC defines animal cruelty as "Conscious action or inaction that may endanger life or cause serious health consequence to animals." Exh. C1.

Dennis Snyder was additionally charged with neglect for having left Jag on a grooming table "without providing appropriate supervision to preclude the dog from being injured in a manner that would constitute neglect." The AKC defines neglect as "inadequate care or voluntary inattention to basic needs, ignoring the safety and well-being of animals because of haste or ignorance. Exh. C1.

Plaintiffs do not dispute that they received adequate notice of the charges against them, that an attorney of their choice represented them at the hearing, that the hearing was held in Topeka at their, request, that the hearing consisted of two days of testimony and exhibits, that the witnesses were under oath, that a transcript of the hearing was taken, and that other indicia of judicial proceedings were present.

At the hearing, conflicting testimony was presented. Allegations against the plaintiffs included: 1) Dennis Snyder had left Jag on a grooming table in a harness or other restraint, then left to show another dog in the ring: 2) Jag then jumped or fell off the table and was injured; 3) both plaintiffs learned of his injuries but failed to given him any medical attention; and 4) plaintiffs attempted to cover up the table incident and told others that Jag was lost a few days after the table incident. All parties agree that Jag was never returned to his owner. Other testimony was to the effect that leaving dogs unattended on grooming tables is not uncommon, and that when Jag fell or jumped off the table his harness hanged him to death so that no medical care was possible.

On June 14, 2007, the Northwest Trial Board of the AKC found that Audra Snyder had committed animal cruelty, stating:

[The Snyders'] testimony is not credible. Defendant Audra Snyder did conduct herself in a manner prejudicial to the best interests of purebred dogs, purebred dog events and/or the American Kennel Club as [charged].

Exh. E. The Trial Board imposed the AKC's standard penalty for the offense of cruelty, suspending her privileges to show dogs at AKC events for ten years. Similarly, the Trial Board found Dennis Snyder had committed animal cruelty and was negligent, and suspended his privileges to show dogs at AKC events for ten years, stating:

[The Snyders'] testimony is not credible. Defendant Dennis Snyder did conduct himself in a manner prejudicial to the best interest of purebred dogs, purebred dog events and/or the American Kennel Club as [charged].

Exh. F.

The Snyders appealed the Trial Board's decisions, but their suspensions were unanimously affirmed on September 10, 2007, by the AKC Appeals Board. The Appeals Board issued specific findings, including that Audra Snyder "was guilty of cruelty in not seeking medical care" for the dog after it was injured. Exh. K. Similarly, the Appeals Board found that Dennis Snyder "was guilty of cruelty in not seeking medical care" for the dog after it was injured, and that "the manner in which "Jag" was left in the rig was clearly negligence." Exh. L.

On July 30, 2008, over ten months later, the plaintiffs filed suit in Shawnee County, Kansas, seeking judicial review of the AKC disciplinary action. The suit alleged a violation of plaintiffs' common law due process rights under New York law, arbitrary and capricious evidentiary findings by the AKC, and libel due to the AKC's publication of their suspension. On August 8, 2008, the state court issued an ex parte TRO of unlimited duration, citing the allegedly erroneous findings of the AKC and the harm of plaintiffs past and future lost income of $200,000 per year. The TRO did not mention any claim of defamation or damage to reputation. The TRO restrained the AKC from enforcing its suspensions against the plaintiffs.

The same day that the TRO issued, the AKC removed the case to this court on the basis of diversity jurisdiction and filed a motion to dissolve the TRO. After a hearing held on August 19, 2008, this court granted defendant's motion to dissolve the TRO, and set a hearing date for plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction.

The day before the preliminary injunction hearing, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint, seeking punitive damages and stating four causes of action: 1) intentional interference with "contract rights"¹ under Kansas law, because the AKC failed to follow its own rules pertaining to discipline by not having the Event Committee initially investigate the incident; 2) intentional interference with "contract rights" under Kansas law because the AKC's decision as to Dennis Snyder was not supported by substantial competent evidence; 3) intentional interference with "contract rights" under Kansas law because the AKC's decision as to Audra Snyder was not supported by any evidence; and 4) libel, based on defendant's publication of its decision to suspend plaintiffs from all AKC privileges.

On August 27, 2008, the hearing was held on plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction. At that hearing, the parties called no live witnesses, but submitted numerous joint exhibits for the court's consideration and made oral arguments. The court took the motion under advisement at the close of that hearing. Having reviewed the parties' briefs, the relevant exhibits and the controlling law, the court is ready to rule.

Preliminary Injunction Standard

A preliminary injunction is an extraordinary remedy. See Schrier v. Univ. of Colorado, 427 F.3d 1253, 1258 (10th Cir.2005). The main purpose of a preliminary injunction is to preserve the status quo pending a final resolution of the matter during the pendency of an action. Lundgrin v. Claytor, 619 F.2d 61, 63 (10th Cir.1980). The movant has the burden to meet the following requirements for issuance of a preliminary injunction:

(1) a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; (2) irreparable harm to the movant if the injunction is denied; (3) the threatened injury outweighs the harms that the preliminary injunction may cause the opposing party; and (4) the injunction, if issued, will not adversely affect the public interest.

Wilderness Workshop v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management, 531 F.3d 1220, 1224 (10th Cir.2008). A party seeking a preliminary injunction must make its case not by mere allegations, but by clear proof. Penn v. San Juan Hosp., Inc., 528 F.2d 1181, 1185 (10th Cir.1975).

Defendant contends that this Court should apply the more stringent standard applied to disfavored injunctions. These "must be more closely scrutinized to assure that the exigencies of the case support the granting of a remedy that is extraordinary even in the normal course." O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal v. Ashcroft, 389 F.3d 973, 975 (10th Cir.2004). In this Circuit, there are three types of specifically disfavored preliminary injunctions:(1) preliminary injunctions that alter the status quo; (2) mandatory preliminary injunctions; and (3) preliminary injunctions that afford the movant all the relief that it could recover at the conclusion of a full trial on the merits. Schrier, 427 F.3d at 1259.

Defendant contends that the injunction is disfavored because it would alter the status quo since plaintiffs' suspension has been in place for eleven months before suit was filed. The status quo, however, is "the last uncontested status between the parties which preceded the controversy until the outcome of the final hearing." SCFC ILC, Inc. v. Visa USA, Inc., 936 F.2d 1096, 1100 n. 8 (10th Cir. 1991), and does not "invariably include the last status immediately before the filing for injunctive relief." Dominion Video Satellite, Inc. v. EchoStar Satellite Corp., 269 F.3d 1149, 1155 (10th Cir.2001). "In determining the status quo for preliminary injunctions, this court looks to the reality of the existing status and relationship between the parties and not solely to the parties' legal rights." Id. Here, the last uncontested status between the parties which preceded the controversy was when the plaintiffs were permitted to show dogs prior to their suspension. See Schrier, 427 F.3d at 1260. The plaintiffs' request that their privileges be restored thus seeks to preserve rather than disturb the status quo.

Defendant additionally notes that the injunction is disfavored because it seeks mandatory relief in that it would require the AKC to allow the plaintiffs to participate fully in its events while this litigation is pending. The Tenth Circuit characterizes an injunction as mandatory if the requested relief "affirmatively require[s] the nonmovant to act in a particular way, and as a result ... place[s] the issuing court in a position where it may have to provide ongoing...