This is wrong on so many levels...

[Tamara]

From FoxNews.com

A California journalist whose dog was allegedly attacked by a library cat is suing the city of Escondido for violating his civil rights by creating a hostile environment for him and his "assistance dog."

Richard Espinosa, a former reporter for the North County Times, says he suffers from anxiety attacks and that his California-certified Labrador assistance dog accompanies him to help him deal with them. A sign at the library saying "No Animals" except guide dogs violated his right and those of others who use assistance dogs to enter the city library, he claims.

Espinosa claims that his dog was viciously mauled by L.C., the library cat, when he entered the building last year. The city was negligent, he believes, for allowing him "to come into an unknown and very dangerous and unsafe situation striking terror in [him] and causing him lasting physical and emotional injury" and permanent damage to his dog.

He wants $1.5 million in damages. His vet bill was $46.49.

Let me get this straight: This twink has an "assistance dog" not because he's blind, but because he has panic attacks?!?! He drags it into a building clearly marked "No dogs except for people that legitimately need them. This means you, you whiner". It gets eviscerated by the library cat, and now he's suing for one-point-freaking-five million dollars!?!?!?!?!?!?!?. He claims his "rights were violated". Hmm, let's see here; free speech, keep and bear arms, yadda yadda, no soldiers sleeping in your guest bedroom, so on and so forth, illegal search & seizure... Nope; don't see a darn one about "not being scared by vicious housecats in a library".

I am disgusted at how twisted the concept of "rights" has become in this country. The small portion of California that this man is standing on can't sink into the Pacific soon enough...

[Trimation]

Everyone wants something for nothing. It's a sad world we live in these days. Only thing we can do is not lower ourselves to the level of people like him and act the same way.

trimation

[rock_jock]

What kind of wussy dog can't kick the **it out of a friggin cat? Probably one of those little yippy dogs. I hate those things! I love animals but everytime I see one of those pathetic excuses for a canine I just want to drop-kick them off a skyscraper.

Now, what were we talking about?

[bastiat]

In this spineless jellyfish's defense, the cat has a history of attacking people and dogs, and has since been kicked out of the library.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/n...-libraria.html

So the cat shouldn't have been there in first place. If it wasn't, this wouldn't have happened.

And the wienie with the 'panic dog' shouldn't rely on the dog to cure his frazzled nerves at every location on the planet. If the dog wasn't there, it wouldn't have been attacked.

In the suit, Espinosa, says he has been diagnosed with many disorders, including bilateral pulmonary emboli, asthma, diabetes, gout and, more recently, with chronic pain syndrome, borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/580214/posts

Yes, I did mean wienie.

[westex]

Only the PRK would have "state-certified" dogs for people who have anxiety attacks, whatever the hell that pyscobabble ailment is.

[deanf]

What kind of wussy dog can't kick the **it out of a friggin cat?

Have you ever seen a rottweiler get chased out of a garage by a three-legged tabby? I have.

[Waterdog]

This is nothing new, with all the damn freaks in Kali, what do you expect.

Hell, him being a journalist, he knows exactly what to say and do.

I won't be holdin my breath for the court to do the right thing.

Waterdog

[rock_jock]

Have you ever seen a rottweiler get chased out of a garage by a three-legged tabby? I have.

Please have him turn in his union card pronto!

[BigG]

Everyone wants something for nothing. It's a sad world we live in these days. Only thing we can do is not lower ourselves to the level of people like him and act the same way.

I wish I could say that this way of thinking is the problem, that the gimp oughta be put to sleep, that this idea of tolerance as a virtue needs to be rethought, but I won't.

[Hal]

It's a shame there's so many people that abuse the system. Goofballs like this guy with his a supposed affliction are the same in my book as people that abuse the handicap parking spots.



The puddy tat in question?
www.pwasoh.com/selfconfidence.html

[Jim V]

I'd guess he is a psycho-ceramic.
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A crack pot.

[BogBabe]

The version of the story I read included 2 additional bits of information:

1. The guy has filed the lawsuit himself (pro se, I think it's called) because several lawyers turned him down. Even the bloodsuckers don't think he has a case.

2. The guy is a former reporter who used to cover legal issues for the paper, so he knows his way around the legal system.

He's a total loony tunes who's out to make a quick buck off the system.

[Thairlar]

The subject of this post says it all. I mean anyone who can't face life without having their dog with them 24/7 has some serious issues. Oh, and I wish my life were so wonderful that I could find a cat attacking my dog (were I to actually have a dog) deeply and emotionally traumatic.

[griz]

Let me get this straight.
A guy can't get a lawyer IN CALIFORNIA to take his case, and still wants to collect? Maybe he does have mental problems.If the kitty had attacked him it might have come out better.

[AugustWest]

There will always be greedy jerks who want to get something for nothing. That there's another one out there doesn't surprise me, and I hope he gets nailed for court costs and sent packing.

The thing that's really scary is the concept of a "California-certified Labrador assistance dog."

I have a Lab-mutt who assists me. He cleans up the crumbs around the dinner table, keeps varmints out of the yard, keeps my home and my wife safe, and when I get home at the end of a tough day, throwin' a ball or a stick with him for a few minutes relaxes me. We're pals, and there's nothing we wouldn't do for each other.

The government has nothing to do with that. Nor should it.

Raises my pulse and BP a couple of notches knowing that somewhere in California, someone is getting paid someone else's tax money to:

a. "certify"what's already obvious, and

b. give someone who has some fear to work through special privileges that other citizens are denied.

[BogBabe]

Here's an interesting take on the story:
http://www.catsinthenews.com/issues/...es/010508a.htm

I especially like this line:

In a 40-page claim he filed himself (after four lawyers refused to touch it), the man punctiliously details every hiss, claw, lunge and bite rained upon his dog by the marauding cat.

And here:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/u..._1mi28cat.html

My favorite sentence in this story:

In the suit, Espinosa, says he has been diagnosed with many disorders, including bilateral pulmonary emboli, asthma, diabetes, gout and, more recently, with chronic pain syndrome, borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The guy is an out-and-out loony tunes; in his own lawsuit he claims all these mental problems.

I find myself wishing he'd become a candidate for the Darwin Awards.

[SamAdams]

He claims his "rights were violated". Hmm, let's see here; free speech, keep and bear arms, yadda yadda, no soldiers sleeping in your guest bedroom, so on and so forth, illegal search & seizure... Nope; don't see a darn one about "not being scared by vicious housecats in a library".

heheh Tamara you're the best.

[Coronach]

Heh. When I scan down the list of threads and titles and authors, a few names and word-combinations tend to stand out. The combination of "Tamara" and "This is just wrong" is usually somewhere near the top of my reading list. The placement of this combination is justified immediately: right after the end of the newsblurb/touchy-feely-blather you see "Let me get this straight: This twink has an "assistance dog" not because he's blind, but because he has panic attacks?!?!" Which is a rather accurate synopsis of the story and a swift diagnosis of the real problem.

Mike

[Mike in VA]

Espinosa's picture is in the dictionary under "Psycho-ceramic California Oxygen Thief".

He clearly hasn't read "The Bill of No Rights" (should re required reading for all of CA)

He clearly shouldn't be out in public with just a dog for a 'keeper', this guy needs real full time supervision.

One shouldn't underestimate the ferocity of some cats. When I was a kid we had a red tabby whose nickname around the 'hood was "Buzzsaw". She literally put the neighbor's collie-shepard mix up a tree (OK it was a small dogwood tree), other dogs would cross the street to avoid our yard when she was out. Some cats are thoroughly capable of taking care of themselves.

[Mal H]

I won't comment on the hypochondriac's frivolous lawsuit. But I will attest to a cat winning in a dog fight.

One word sums it all up - Siamese.

When I was young we had a Siamese that took nothing from the neighborhood dogs. One scene that is burned in my memory is when a 'fierce' bulldog started chasing the cat around the garage. We all thought the cat had met his match this time. Not 20 seconds later, the dog came back from where it had been, running as fast as it could, whimpering, bloody nose and being chased by the cat.

[C.R.Sam]

I see no right.

Guy a jerk that can't read.

Library folks jerks for keepin killer cat and prohibiting dawgs.

Only in the land of fruits n nuts.

Sam

"In the suit, Espinosa, says he has been diagnosed with many disorders, including bilateral pulmonary emboli, asthma, diabetes, gout and..."

That explains why he couldn't kick the s**t out of the cat.

(If you've had gout, you know what I mean)

[Zundfolge]

Two very important words...

California

and

journalist


I think we can see the entire problem from there (and frankly both of them can slide into the ocean as far as I'm concerned)

[Mike Irwin]

"No dogs except for people that legitimately need them. This means you, you whiner".

Just one questions, Tamara.

Do you have the ability to determine if he needs an assistance dog? Or are you basing that statement solely on your disgust with the lawsuit?

How about an epileptic, or quadrapalegic? Should they qualify for assistance dogs?

Blind, that's easy to determine. Or is it?

I've been involved in assistance and therapy dog programs for a number of years. Assistance animals are a LOT more than just guide dogs for the blind.

Be very careful about the stance that you take.

It sounds suspiciously like the stance taken by the people who say "You don't REALLY need a gun to protect yourself, so you can't have one."

[Tamara]

San Diego Union-Tribune and Tamara:

Richard Espinosa, whose assistance dog allegedly was attacked by the Public Library's pet cat last year, filed a lawsuit against the city yesterday seeking $1.5 million in damages, which is more than many people get for actually being, you know, crippled for life.
Espinosa alleges in his suit, which he prepared himself because no lawyer with measurable brain activity would touch it and filed in Superior Court in Vista, that his rights as a disabled person as well as his civil rights were violated. Spokespeople for folks who are actually disabled said "This pathetic individual gives us a bad name".

Espinosa, who lives in Vista, was a reporter for the North County Times when the incident occurred Nov. 16, 2000. In his 13-page suit, Espinosa says he suffers from anxiety attacks and well-founded feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness and that his California-certified assistance dog accompanies him to help him deal with them. "Do you know how long it took to teack my dog how to open a Prozac bottle?" said Espinosa "Not to mention mixing martinis, which he can't do now thanks to that vicious feline!".

Espinosa says he was on assignment (thereby leaving the back door open for a workman's comp claim when the suit gets laughed out of court) when he and Kimba, a Labrador mix that weighs about 50 pounds, entered the library and the cat, loyally enforcing library policy, attacked his dog. The cat, called L.C. for library cat, often sat on a pillow near the entrance.

Espinosa says the library had a sign that said "No Animals" except guide dogs, which violated his right and those of others who use assistance dogs (none of whom have stepped forward for fear of being associated with this loser)to enter the city library.

Espinosa also alleges that a library administrator and a patron chastised him for ignoring the sign and bringing Kimba into the library and that police did not promptly respond to his call for assistance, because they were too busy, you know, fighting crime.

Before officers arrived, Espinosa fled the scene of the crime and left to take Kimba to a veterinarian, who charged $46.49 for the treatment, according to a claim Espinosa filed with the city in May.

Espinosa says in his suit that he "suffers life-threatening anaphylactic reactions when exposed to cats" (would that this part were true) and that the city caused him "to come into an unknown and very dangerous and unsafe situation striking terror in (him) and causing him lasting physical and emotional injury" and permanent damage to his dog "...and they could have warned me about the books in there, too; don't they take into account that some of us suffer from crippling byblophobia?".

He contends the city violated both the California Disabled Act of 1990 and the California Unruh Civil Rights Act by its "continuing policy of putting the welfare of their dangerous cat above people with bogus and drummed up disabilities looking to score an early retirement off a lawsuit."

In the suit, Espinosa, says he has been diagnosed with many disorders, including bilateral pulmonary emboli, asthma, diabetes, gout and, more recently, with chronic pain syndrome, borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Library officials admit that, in light of this impressive record of malingering and hypochondria, they should have seen this one coming.

In May, L.C. attacked a terrier outside the library, being a cat and all. A few days after that incident, City Librarian Laura Mitchell put the 12-pound cat on an "indefinite vacation, much like the one Mr. Espinosa is attempting to score off the backs of the taxpayers" at the home of a library employee.

L.C. was a kitten when it was donated to the library by a homeless woman in 1994.