An Oregon jury awarded a man nearly $1.4 million for the loss of his 3-year-old cat, who was stolen by the man's landlord. Joshua Smith said his cat, Frank, had mysteriously disappeared. He had found the cat as a stray on the street in 2017. He took him in to where he was staying, which was a drug recovery group home in Portland.
In 2019, upon returning home, Joshua realized that his fur baby had gone missing. Just days later, he filed a lawsuit against his landlord, Devon Andrade, and the recovery house business, Pinestreet LLC.
In court, the landlord confessed to taking Frank, and further, having his girlfriend drop the cat off at a local shelter. He claimed that it was a violation of Joshua’s lease to have a pet.
At the time of filing the lawsuit, Joshua was seeking up to $250,000 from the landlord and property. He was also offering $500 for the return of his cat, who eventually got returned to its original owner after veterinarians discovered the cat had a microchip.
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“The jury’s message should be loud and clear to landlords,” said Michael Fuller, the attorney who won the case. “You need to respect the rights of tenants, especially when it comes to pets. It turned out that the people on the jury were also animal lovers."
