How does this sound for compensation *small update

[purpletree23]

Thanks millebamtam. Some owners don't get it and I'm going to protect what's mine. Another consideration is that this dog has to cross the road to get to my coop and more than once it has almost caused an accident. My road is lined with rock walls and trees. If someone swerves to miss that darn thing there will be a much more severe loss/injuries/auto repairs than a chicken.

Again it's the owners who don't care.

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

i think you've done your work to show your loses and potential loses for rare/hard to find birds. and this would probably be good with the judge and could get you the full amount you are asking for. it may also depend on the area you live in what a judge might think about chickens, but if you can give them enough evidence to support you reasons for the amount you are requesting, they more than likely will listen and realize you have you stuff in order and understand the laws and how they work.

i'm sure that when mentioned that you had rare breeds, that would throw up red flags to both the neighbor and the judge. 'rare' can mean a lot of money involved to replace with good breeding stock, or even ANY breeding stock-young or old! those dogs took away from a lot more than just your family, they also took away from others that are trying to help keep a breed that is probably nearly extinct from doing exactly that!

i think the idea someone else mentioned that you have provisions that the costs could go down if the recommendations were put in place by X amount of time/date, is a great idea.

 

[buttercycle]

I just joined BYC forums after trying to do some research on compensation for my lost flock. Last Saturday, my wife and I returned from a run to find a neighbor's dog had jumped his fence to get out of his yard, then jumped my fence and got into my chicken yard. My entire flock was slaughtered and there were several witnesses. I lost five 7-month old laying hens of all different breeds and a freakishly productive rouen duck of the same age. These birds were a wedding present and had been hand raised by us since they were 1 day old; they were pets

The neighbor initially accepted responsibility and promised to replace the birds + lost egg production. Predictably, he has now fallen off the radar and will not return phone calls. We tried to make him a very reasonable offer of $100 for replacement cost. We were trying to be good neighbors and offer a lowball amount for replacement, but again no good deed goes unpunished.

Considering his current course of action, I am ready to file suit and would like to be able to come up with a real cost estimate to attach to that suit. Any suggestions?

What breeders have any of you used to get quotes on replacement costs? Can you really be compensated for the costs of feed in raising the bird? How long can egg loss calculations be extrapolated.....we were getting 4-5 chicken eggs a day and one duck egg every day. Free range eggs sell for $5/dozen here; duck eggs sell for $6/dozen. Any success and failure stories from small claims court experiences would be appreciated.

I did not want it to come to this.

 

[gsim]

If you end up in court with this guy me may lose, but you still have to collect. That is a problem too. Apparently this guy knows it. What I would do is go for the highest compensation that I could present in court with a straight face. Likely this guy will not show up. Then you will automatically get the judgement. Then file a lien against his property and let it collect interest. There is a lien that does that which I can not now recall the name of. It works, and when he finds out what he owes some day, he will have a cow!

Then send him a registered letter and be very courteous and inform him of the outcome of the court proceeding that he dodged. Also very sorrowfully but firmly inform him that deadly force will be used the next time his dogs trespass. You will have laid all of the necessary groundwork to be in the clear morally and legally when they return.

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
A letter with the total amount due will have to be sent to him before filing in court. It is the proof that he was notified of the total cost. Collection isn't that hard, at least not around here. In our area, you can have the Sheriff confiscate their personal property and auction it. This also highlights why it's important to turn offenders in to law enforcement. They are easier to collect from if they know that they might face a judge over a "dog at large" ticket because judges hate it when they hear that the deadbeat hasn't made restitution. Don't be afraid of court. As somebody on this board told me, the wheels of justice turn slow, but they can grind hard.