Hammer v. American Kennel Club
New York Court of Appeals
1 N.Y.3d 294, 803 N.E.2d 766 (2003)
- Written by Haley Gintis, JD
Facts
In 2001, Jon H. Hammer (plaintiff) sued the American Kennel Club (AKC) and the American Brittany Club (ABC) (defendants). Hammer claimed that the AKC and the ABC encouraged owners of purebred Brittany Spaniel dogs to violate New York State’s Agriculture and Markets Law § 353, which prohibited animal cruelty. Hammer argued that because the AKC adopted the ABC’s standards providing that Brittany Spaniel dogs should have approximately four-inch tails, it encouraged owners to dock their dogs’ tails to enter the AKC’s breed competitions. Hammer alleged that the process of docking a tail constituted animal cruelty. Hammer sought a declaratory judgment that the standard promulgated violated Section 353 as well as an injunction requiring the AKC to stop using the four-inch standard when judging breed competitions. The AKC and the ABC both moved to dismiss Hammer’s complaint on the ground that Section 353 did not provide an individual with a private cause of action to obtain civil relief. The appellate division granted the motions. The matter was appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Graffeo, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 789,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
