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5:04pm

Lagodi's Story: A Case of Wrongful Death

This story was taken straight from the pages of an ancient Greek tragedy. It was a case of a family who did everything possible to keep the what-ifs from happening, and yet it all still happened, despite their efforts.

It highlights the fact that sometimes in life, despite what we do and no matter how right we are, thing don't always turn out in our favor. This seems to defy our natural born, and childhood-reared logic -- that if you are in the right, tell the truth, and go above and beyond, then you will win in the end.

My heart goes out to the Marks' family. But I feel that they have taken this tragedy and are making the best of it. Using Lagodi's death as a catalyst for change, rather than for embitterment.

The other interesting aspect of this story is that of Jennifer Dietz, the animal law attorney. We all know the stereotypical attorney who is out to make as much as they can. But this just isn't the sense that I get from Dietz. She spent years saving up money practicing mainstream law, then finally was able to open up her dream practice for animal law.

Yet, even to do so, she still needed to mortgage her home, and now she and her family are "able to make ends meet, but I’m doing what we love."

From Dietz's perspective, the 30 lawyers across the nation who practice animal law aren't in it for the money. They are in it because they want to hold the pet industry accountable for the injustices that animals and their pet owners face.

In an interview with her, Deitz said "there are lawyers out there, and people out there who see that animals are worth more than toaster ovens. And yet we hear from the commercials to 'feed them IAMs, feed them the best,' but like with the food recalls the dogs up and die, but no one wants to take responsibility, because they all say then 'It’s just an animal.' "

This is why she got into the business, to be "the voice of the voiceless," so that tragedies like Lagodi's and the pet food recall become a rarity, rather than the norm.

Also, just a little tidbit. Dietz says there are about 30 animal law attorneys across the U.S. whose practices solely deal with that area of the law. She said there is a concentration in Oregon, Washington, Chicago, and NYC, while the "rest of us are very sporadic."

As for her Florida law firm, "we are growing and burgeoning into what will soon be a very large firm -- we will be there to help people, but we won’t be rich."

Fortunately, for the Marks family and Lagodi's legacy there is a person who can be an advocate for all the things that went wrong in this case.

To see the original story, Lagodi's Story: A Case of Wrongful Death, follow this link:zootoo.com