Fwd: UPDATE!: ACTION ALERT! Pre-Trial Conference this Friday - Donald Dutiel (Wagon Wheel Ranch - New Lexington, OH)

August 22, 2009

Mary O'Connor-Shaver <mshaver_0462

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Fri, Aug 21, 2009 5:09 pm

UPDATE!: ACTION ALERT! Pre-Trial Conference this Friday - Donald Dutiel (Wagon Wheel Ranch - New Lexington, OH)

Dear Companion Pet Lovers ~

As you know, we had our first Pre-Trial Conference today, and much was learned. A very special THANKS to the over one dozen supporters who turned out on a beautiful Friday afternoon, especially those who had to travel from outside of Perry County, Ohio.

As expected, our legal team did get something of a case schedule today, and it is largely focused on the first big issue: class certification (permission of the Court to proceed as a class action).

The Court has discretion on whether to hold a "full-blown" evidentiary hearing on class certification, and at least at this point, Judge Lewis does not intend to hold such a hearing. The Defendants will have twenty-one (21) days to make a written response to the legal team's Motion for Class Certification. The legal team will then have ten (10) days to file their reply memorandum, and they have already started working on that. The Court will probably make that decision soon after they have the materials submitted. As you may know from previous updates, the legal team expected class certification to be the first big hurdle, and that is exactly what appears to be happening. Much of the rest of the case will be shaped by whether the legal team is successful in getting certification, so this is a logical order of proceedings. It is good to know that this question should be answered fairly soon.

The legal team also delivered their first set of discovery requests to the Defendants today. These are written questions that the Defendants must answer in writing and under oath (â€˜Interrogatories'), requests for documents that the Defendants will have to show us (â€˜Requests for Production of Documents'), and requests that the Defendants admit certain facts that we believe are not in dispute (â€˜Requests for Admissions').

All of these are supposed to be answered in thirty (30) days. These â€˜tools' are used to learn about the other side's case and prepare our own, as well as to narrow and focus the issues at trial. The legal team doesn't necessarily think that the Defendants will admit the things that are in the Requests for Admissions, but those have a secondary purpose since we are allowed to make the Defendants pay for the cost of proving facts that they refuse to admit now.

On the negative side, the legal team had also asked for immediate access to the Dutiel property to take pictures. Normally, the Defendants would have twenty-eight (28) days to respond to such a request, and of course, that is plenty of time to clean up the conditions. The Court has discretion to shorten the time for response, and we had asked the Court to shorten that time (to zero). The Court would not do that, and the Defendants would not consent to immediate access, but the Court did require the Defendants to respond to the request within ten (10) days.

We are hoping that other means may allow the legal team to get the evidence they want before that ten (10) day time passes, and it would have been nice to get the pictures today, but ten (10) days is a LOT less than twenty-eight (28), and if that is the worst ruling we get, the legal team believes we'll win the case going away.

At a less tangible level, our lead attorney, John A. Bell, would like to note that he was favorably impressed with Judge Lewis. There was not the slightest hint of any bias or interest in protecting the Defendants. It may be a good thing that none of the attorneys are located in Perry County, so there is no "home field advantage" at work, either. Mr. Henniger (the new attorney for the Defendants) is a very professional and apparently competent lawyer. We are sharing the Defendants' Pretrial Statement with you because it is a fascinating read and it should make your weekend reading list interesting.

Based on today's discussions, it appears that the legal team may be able to get the case to trial by spring or early summer of 2010 (which is fairly quickly for a case like this).

There will be work in progress just about every day, and we will update everyone as anything significant develops.

Thanks again for serving as a strong voice for the dogs!

Mary O'Connor-Shaver

Cell: 614-271-8248

Columbus Top Dogs

http://www.columbustopdogs.com/

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ACTION ALERT! Pre-Trial Conference this Friday - Donald Dutiel

(Wagon Wheel Ranch - New Lexington, OH)

"Mary O'Connor-Shaver" <mshaver_0462

Tue, August 18, 2009 12:24 pm

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Dear Companion Pet Lovers ~

You may recall that there is a Pre-Trial Conference scheduled for this coming Friday, August 21 at 2:00 PM in the class-action lawsuit filed against Donald Dutiel and his cohorts in the "Wagon Wheel Ranch" operation. (Black, et al., v. Dutiel, et al., case no.: 09CV-00170, Court of Common Pleas, Perry County, Ohio, Linton Lewis, Judge).

Click here to read the article, "Lawsuit seeks to stop breeder - Wagon Wheel breeds sick puppies, it alleges."

Although this is not an absolutely crucial event, it is important, and it would be helpful to have a solid presence from the Ohio animal advocacy community. If you cannot attend in person, we invite you to contact the news media or other parties interested in humane causes, and ask if they can send a representative.

The Pre-Trial Conference will be held in New Lexington, Ohio, in Perry County, about an hour east southeast of Columbus:

Fri., 8/21

Time:

2:00 PM

Address:

105 North Main St.

New Lexington, OH 43764

Phone:

(740) 342-3156

Fax:

(740) 342-2188

Map to Courthouse:

http://www.perrycountycourt.com/map.shtml

Perry County Court Website:

http://www.perrycountycourt.com/

Support from concerned citizens would be very much appreciated, and could very well help the many, possibly hundreds, of Dutiel's victims for whom we might eventually get a small measure of justice if we can keep this case going and growing (not to mention the scores that we might keep from becoming victims).

We'll continue to keep you informed of developments in the case, even if you cannot attend this week.

Thanks so much for serving as a strong voice for the dogs!