Should Animals Be Allowed to Sue?

SHERRY F. COLB

Cornell law professor Sherry F. Colb comments on case in which Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) brought a civil damages suit on behalf of an abused horse, now named Justice, against the horse’s former owner. Colb dismantles three arguments critics raise in opposition to recognizing abused animals as plaintiffs in lawsuits such as this one.

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Lopez-Aquilar v. Barr

Docket: 17-73153

Opinion Date: January 28, 2020

Judge: Marsha Siegel Berzon

Areas of Law: Criminal Law, Immigration Law

The Ninth Circuit granted a petition for review of the BIA's decision finding petitioner removable based on his robbery conviction under Oregon Revised Statutes section 164.395. The panel held that section 164.395 is not a categorical theft offense and therefore not an aggravated felony under section 101(a)(43)(G) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The panel agreed with petitioner that section 164.395 exceeds the generic definition of a theft offense because it incorporates consensual takings via theft by deception, and the force elements do not impose a requirement that the defendant engage in a nonconsensual taking. Because the panel held that the statute was overbroad, the panel moved to the next step of the analysis: determining whether the statute is divisible, such that application of the modified categorical approach is appropriate. The panel held that Oregon's third-degree robbery statute is indivisible.