Animals Win in the Courts in 2008

	A 1968 case to block the round up of wild mustangs set the stage for modern animal protection litigation. © The HSUS

In 1959, HSUS’s first General Counsel, Mr. Murdaugh Madden, filed suit charging a medical facility with 11 counts of cruelty to animals under California law.

To say the case was groundbreaking would be a gross understatement. It was unheard of. A lone cry in the legal wilderness—unheeded by anyone, including that particular court. 

But Mr. Madden persevered, and by 1985—five years before the first law school Animal Law course — Mr. Madden had filed scores of cases testing legal theories that underlie all modern animal protection litigation.

Mr. Madden’s death at age 85 this year marked the end of an animal protection career that spanned more than 50 years, including a precedent-setting 1968 action to block the round up of wild mustangs in Wyoming's Pryor Mountain range.

Forty years later, our legal team continues to follow in Mr. Madden’s juridical footsteps, taking the fight against animal abuse directly to the courts, and holding accountable those who take profit or pleasure from the exploitation of animals.

With the year drawing to a close, it's time to reflect back on our top victories and biggest cases of 2008, and to recognize the combined efforts of our in house legal team of 15 lawyers, our growing network of over 1,000 pro bono lawyers, and the talented law students from our clinical partnership with Georgetown University Law Center.

It was a record-breaking year for animals in the courts. In addition to filing 16 new legal actions, our team won a whopping 18 victories, or roughly one courtroom win every three weeks. In a single two-week period in July, we racked up five major legal victories. 

Our legal team also helped prosecutors win the conviction of scores of animal abusers and animal fighters — assisting with cases involving dog fighting, hoarding, farm animal abuse, and puppy mills.

Farm Animal Law

For years, to even speak of farm animal law was a bit of a misnomer. With virtually no state or federal humane legal protections, and extremely reluctant prosecutors overseeing those few state laws that do apply, factory farmers have long had a virtual free hand to systematically abuse animals.

This year, however, the animals (and their advocates) pushed back hard—and secured important legal protections that have been denied far too long.

Cruelty For Lunch

The year started off with a bang when HSUS’s investigations team uncovered the systematic abuse of “downer” cows at the now infamous Hallmark/Westland slaughterhouse in Chino, California. Armed with perhaps the most compelling undercover footage of farm animal abuse ever obtained, HSUS’s legal team—led by Senior Attorney Peter Brandt—swung into action to ensure a vigorous criminal prosecution of those responsible. 

	HSUS lawyers swung into action after an HSUS investigation uncovered abuse of downer cows at a California slaughterhouse. © The HSUS

The result was a precedent-setting prosecution and conviction of two slaughterhouse workers for torturing cows too sick or injured to walk to slaughter—all for the purpose of selling low-grade meat to the federal school lunch program.

HSUS also filed suit against the USDA to close the legal loophole for downers that encouraged the shocking abuse uncovered at Hallmark/Westland. Shortly thereafter, USDA issued proposed rules to do just that, and we are anxiously awaiting the final regulations.

Chickens Come Home to Roost

All eyes remained on California after Hallmark, with voters poised to consider a landmark initiative (Proposition 2) on the fall ballot to phase out cruel factory farming practices.

More than a year earlier, HSUS’s legal team was already hard at work preparing our initiative language, and gearing up to fight the opponents of Proposition 2.

When the opponents claimed that they represented local family farmers, our legal team responded with multiple complaints to the California Fair Political Practices Commission showing that the opponents were illegally laundering more than $4.5 million in tainted out-of-state agribusiness money through an unregistered ballot committee—the largest campaign finance violation in California history.

	HSUS legal team filed several major cases in support of California's landmark ballot initiative, Prop 2. © The HSUS

We followed up with a federal court suit exposing an illegal plan to misappropriate $3 million dollars of federal funds to the opposition. HSUS lawyer Ralph Henry was less than 15 minutes into his argument when judge Marilyn Hall Patel enjoined the entire scheme from the bench—thus depriving the opponents of millions in television advertising.

The opponents switched tactics and tried to argue that cramming animals in tiny wire cages is actually good for the environment and public health. But our lawyers shot back with lawsuits and legal petitions challenging major ammonia emissions and waste water pollution emanating from the egg factory farms operated by the opponents.

However, the opponents’ biggest false claim—and one of their biggest mistakes—was the assertion that providing more humane care for farm animals would somehow increase consumer egg prices.

When HSUS lawyer Leana Stormont and Chief Economist Jennifer Fearing investigated this claim, they were shocked to discover a massive price-fixing scheme by the country’s major egg producers—which had raised egg prices more than 40 percent. 

The opponents were claiming Proposition 2 would bilk consumers, when the industry had been bilking them all along.

In August, HSUS’s legal team filed petitions with the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, only to discover that DOJ had already launched its own criminal investigation.

With the help of HSUS’s lawyers, the first of 20 class action price-fixing cases against the egg industry was filed in federal court the next day.  The now consolidated class action litigation—“In Re Egg Producers”—seeks hundreds of millions in damages from the nation’s top egg companies.

In the weeks before the fall election, HSUS’s legal work uncovering the price fixing scandal, and the resulting litigation and DOJ criminal investigation, were featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, in Business Week magazine, and hundreds of other media outlets.

The opposition never recovered, and the measure passed by a landslide on November 4.

More than Just Farm Animals

While our legal work concerning farm animals may have had the spotlight in 2008, our legal team also initiated and won more than two dozen other legal actions.

These helped to: 

	The HSUS's legal team is gearing up for courtroom battles in 2009, including a case involving fur false advertising. © The HSUS

combat Japanese whaling, block the killing of sea lions, knock animal-fighting paraphernalia off Amazon.com, protect endangered whales from ship strikes and fishing gear, halt major water pollution at an egg factory farm, and block the slaughter of endangered wolves in both the Rocky Mountain and Great Lakes regions. 

For 2009, we are gearing up for major courtroom battles in several of the three dozen cases on our docket, including cases challenging polar bear trophy hunting, puppy mill fraud and abuse, factory farm pollution, false advertising of fur by major retailers, and many more still to come.

The HSUS’s legal program continues to grow by leaps and bounds because of the people who choose to get involved, donate legal work, or make a financial contribution to help stamp out animal cruelty. 

With your help, our 2009 team will be even stronger, and take us even closer to our ultimate goal of making sure that all animals get the legal protection they deserve.