NEWS ADVISORY

Court Upholds Right of Coalition to Prosecute Suit Against Live Animal Markets

In Coalition for Healthy and Humane Business Practices vs. Never Ending Quails, Action No. 986059, the suit filed against 12 San Francisco markets which both kill and sell live animals, the San Francisco Superior Court has ruled against the markets' claim that the Coalition has no right to prosecute the action. The Coalition is seeking an injunction prohibiting these stores from continuing to violate health laws which prohibit keeping and killing live animals where food is sold, and humane laws which prohibit the torment and torture of animals.

In response to the ruling made on July 25, 1997 by Judge Raymond Williamson, the Coalition's attorney, Baron Miller, said, "The court has upheld our right as private citizens to enforce these laws. The court also rejected the argument that the lawsuit is racially motivated, though I doubt we have heard the last of that distortion."

The markets will now have the opportunity to present their position that they are not violating humane laws when they slice shells off of living turtles, chop animals to death, cram so many birds and rabbits into cages that they can barely move, and pile frogs and turtles on top of each other in bins with no food or water.

For further information, you can contact plaintiff's (the Coalition's) attorney at 415-522-0500.

News Advisory from Baron L. Miller, Law Offices of Miller and Miller, 1390 Market St. Suite 1204, San Francisco CA 94102-5306.