Sunday, April 05, 2009

Boca Raton parrot summoned to appear in court Monday

|South Florida Sun-SentinelBOCA RATON - The African Grey parrot's name is Tequila, or Lucky, depending on whose side you're on.

Regardless of what name she answers to, a Palm Beach County judge has ordered the parrot to appear in a Delray Beach courtroom on Monday. It's step one in a civil lawsuit over who will get to keep the $2,000 bird who flew away from one Boca Raton woman three years ago and ended up with another.

The finder's lawyer, Marcy LaHart, said when her client found the parrot she looked diligently for the owner, to no avail. It took three years for the women to find each other by chance.

"I would agree finders keepers is not the state of the law," LaHart said. "If two weeks or two months had passed we wouldn't be going to court. But it's been three years and my client is very attached to this animal and is reticent to hand it over."

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1 comment:

Ali said...

This reminds me of the litigation that arose after Hurricane Katrina... when displaced pet owners came back months later asking for their companion animals, after they had already been adopted to into new homes. From what I recall, most were given back to the original owners if they met the state's property abandonment limitations [usually 1 year]. Anyway, LaHart has a good argument... three years is a long time, but I can't help but think 'what if it was my companion animal?" I think I'd want him or her back.