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Lawsuit - Update |
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In Defense of the
Bull Terrier My last letter to everyone announced our final court date, in our fight against the Federal breed list and import ban (which is connected to the breed list of dangerous dogs). When we first started, we wrote a letter to our city council, for permission to import a Bull Terrier from the United Kingdom. They stated that we must petition the regional government, which we did. The regional government answered that they were not responsible for such a request and that we would have to write the Agriculture Minister for permission to import into our state of Lower Saxony. We wrote the state government and were returned with a letter stating that all regulations regarding the citizens of the state, were under the control of their local city council. So...back to square one. This all occurred in 2002 and our lawsuit was filed against the City of Harsum, who accepted the lawsuit and got their team of lawyers on the case. Now we jump to May 2010... Fourteen days before our final court date, our lawyer was in contact with the court speaker, where he was informed that our case looks as if it will have a positive outcome concerning the import ban. The court speaker stated, that every E.U. country could import a dog from the U.K., and with Germany being the only country forbidding this, they are in direct violation of the commercial trade law. Germany was one of the staunchest supporters, when the E.U. was forming, to make all countries united under the same commercial trade system. The court has expressed the opinion that the Germany import ban of the 3 breeds (Am. Staff, Staff. Bull Terrier and Bull Terrier) plus the pit bull, will not hold up under our challenge, as it is connected to the breed list. The enourmous amount of scientific material we have submitted concerning the temperament and character of the Bull Terrier will challenge this list and that the outcome of our case looked extremely positive. But the court speaker also brought up a point that perhaps we are suing the wrong arm of the government. They said that the City of Harsum is perhaps not responsible (regardless of what the Minister of Agriculture wrote) and that this lawsuit needs to be re-directed at the Regional Government. Our lawyer then stated to the court, that both the Regional Court and the District court of Hannover both took the case and at no time did it ever come out, that we were in the wrong direction. Even the city of Harsum agreed they were the correct recipients of the lawsuit. The high court stated that they still felt we should re-direct our case to the Regional Government and not the local. Our lawyer then consulted us and said if we go to trial in May, there is a good chance it will be dismissed for the above reason. So he contacted the court that we will change directions and the court conceded to keep the door open for a return of our case...but with the focus directed against the regional government. This decision is
now on the court website (in German), also stating that a positive outcome
of our case is still evident. It was very frustrating for us to think we must walk backwards a few steps before going forward, but thankfully, all of the arguments are written and it is a re-directed paper process at the moment. Our lawyer said it is a good sign, that the court is still leaving the door open for us when we return. That is where we stand today. The newest bill we received is now on the website (www.bullterrierdefense.com) just to keep everyone informed. We will probably not be hearing anything until sometime in the fall and when that happens, we will keep the Bull Terrier community informed. Thanks again for the outpouring of support from everyone around the world. It is not over and the end result looks excellent for us. It is just going to take a little longer. Rudi and Cathie Dettmar |