Doing a presentation for Business Law Class and need some feedback...

[wildlifephotographer]

I am doing a presentation for my college Business Law class concerning the laws made on the restrictions of keeping certain types of reptiles in my case snakes and how this might eventually effect me as a future business owner. These are just some of the questions my professor wants me to cover in my presentation and I thought I would ask for everyone's opinions on them and or if anyone knew what the actual answers were.

What does the law say about a situation where someone's snake bites or injures another person? What is the liability standard? negligence? strict liability? Etc.

I want to find out what snakes are currently on the banned lists as far as which ones can't be kept as pets now and what kind of fines there are if found in someone's home being kept as a pet or breeder? Also, if there are just snakes that can be kept but have to have permits/license to keep as such?

I also have to keep it mostly about the laws on keeping certain snakes weather it be that it bans them from being owned completely or if they require a permit to keep. Does anyone know if Corn snakes and King snakes are even close to being put on such a list? And if they have been does anyone know where- what states? In these states are there fines to be paid if caught keeping them as pets or being owned for future breeding in a business ?

I know it's a lot of questions and probably some will not be known to anyone on this forum but any help is greatly appreciated. My presentation has to be at least 10 minutes long. I'm wanting to do a really good job on this presentation. Thanks for any help or insight.

 

[wildlifephotographer]

Just wanted to say thanks to anyone who can help out. I am really looking forward to my presentation in another week from now. Any tips or suggestions to answers up above would be so helpful.

 

[RoseRed]

Since you live in Indiana I would look at the state laws, because this is would vary from state to state.
Here is a place to start, Indiana's government website regarding reptiles
http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3328.htm

You should also look at cases (both criminal and civil) revolving around reptiles, try to get the original transcripts (especially the ruling). If you cannot find any on reptiles, try looking at other animals (I would look at dogs, since they are pets and commonly found in the household).

I would also check any federal laws and/or cases (that have been brought to the federal level).

I hope this helps steer you in the right direction ^^

 

[RoseRed]

If you cannot find any on reptiles, try looking at other animals (I would look at dogs, since they are pets and commonly found in the household).

If you do use other animals, you should say something like, "I was not able to find any cases revolving around reptiles, to say what the liability standard is. But by looking at these cases as an example, I would say an injury from a reptile would likely be ____." --- You would just be using similar cases to give an idea what the liability standard would be for a reptile.

To add, I would take a look at http://usherp.org/ but remember that if you find anything here, you should find another source to back the information up, because it is bias.

 

[Guruofchem]

A couple of things to keep in mind:

1) Significant differences exist from state to state - Georgia, for instance, is very draconian and forbids keeping any species that is found in state in any morphological form, while other states pay almost no attention at all. Federal law sits above those as well, and you may have more restrictive laws in some municipalities, especially when keeping venomous herps. Click here for permit info...

2) USARK (usark.org) has lots of resources regarding current/pending legislation, but is skewed heavily pro-herp, so watch for that bias.

3) CITES is the international treaty that governs capture/transport of many species of animals, including herps.

4) I'd chat with local independent store owners - find out what they know about the legal issues of their particular profession. Their advice may be more functional than bookish, but that is helpful too.

 

[kathylove]

You have a bit of research to do because of the multi layers of jurisdictions and multi reasons for banning or limiting ownership. Most of the federal bans have to do with supposedly dangerous or invasive species, such as Burmese pythons. Or it could also be because of the Endangered Species Act. But the feds will restrict or ban access between countries or between states. They usually don't regulate what you can buy or sell within your own state. So you have to look at state, county, and city regs as to what might be banned or regulated. Those usually have to do with animals considered a public danger or native species that might be endangered. They could list species or they could just ban all snakes that can get to 6', or all constrictor snakes, or something else equally broad and absurd.

But I think I have also read that at least one state included everything that the feds banned, too, such as non native endangered species. And don't forget that a state could have one set of rules from the fish and game dept, yet their ag dept could regulate something like turtles or other animals thought to present a problem with food poisoning.

Even your HOA could be involved with lots of its own regulations, too. Or your local city or county zoning board might have something to say about your "dangerous" pet.

There are so many regulatory agencies on so many different levels that it is getting difficult to be sure anything you do is totally legal - it takes lots of research to find out. And don't just ask somebody at the local zoning board or fish and game dept if what you are doing is ok. I have learned from sad experience that if the person at the front desk either doesn't know the answer, or doesn't like what you do, they find it much easier to just say NO than to find out the correct answer!

Good luck!

 

[wildlifephotographer]

Wow, that is a lot of information to do research on. I'm thinking my professor is looking more for business related restrictions it's Business Law and how that might effect me on running a snake breeding company in the future.

What does the law say about a situation where someone's snake bites or injures another person? What is the liability standard? negligence? strict liability? Etc.

I think that is mainly what he's looking for... plus I have to keep it to a 10 minute limit on my presentation.

Thanks for all the help and feedback though it all gives me ideas and a place to start.

 

[RoseRed]

Wow, that is a lot of information to do research on. I'm thinking my professor is looking more for business related restrictions it's Business Law and how that might effect me on running a snake breeding company in the future.

What does the law say about a situation where someone's snake bites or injures another person? What is the liability standard? negligence? strict liability? Etc.

I think that is mainly what he's looking for... plus I have to keep it to a 10 minute limit on my presentation.
/QUOTE]

In my opinion, snake bans would be more relevant for business than snake bites. Lets say Indiana bans all exports of corn snakes (or enter any other snake here), that means your business can only sell in the state of Indiana. It would make your market very low. Or if Indiana bans certain morphs to be sold in the state, then the ban would restrict what kind of morphs you can sell.

Snake bites are only relevant if you have customers coming to your facility and you allowing them to handle them (or some can try to make a case if you sell and ship one to them, and it bites them). And for you to be liable, the plaintiff must prove there was actual harm done. Is the judge/jury going to see a bite from a hatchling corn snake (that may not even leave a mark) as harm? Depends on the judge/jury. Although an adult may be more likely to do "harm", but again the question remains would the bite be significant enough to be seen by the court as harm? But if you are talking about bigger snakes (that can actually do significant harm), then the question of liability is more relevant.

Since you only have 10 minutes (as a political science major I know how fast that can go), I would focus more on bans since they undoubtedly will have an impact on your business. Especially since recently states all over the nation are trying to pass bills banning certain species.

But if you want to stick to liability, just look at cases involving dog bites (or if you can find a case with snakes) and that should give you an idea on the liability. It will probably be more difficult to find cases revolving around dogs than snakes, but if you can find a case or two on snakes, that would be better.

 

[RoseRed]

Here is a link to Indiana's court system. Just use the search bar for "snake" "reptile" "bite" "dog" etc and see what pops up.
http://www.in.gov/judiciary/

Here is a link for the Federal Courts
http://www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts.aspx

Have fun reading ^^ If you find any relavent cases, I would print them out and highlight everything that you think is important. You do not want to have to dig up information when you have read multiple cases. << Been there, done that, not fun.

Good luck.

 

[wildlifephotographer]

Thanks RoseRed. I've done some research on both those sites you gave me and I could not get anything to come up in the results. I tried looking for snake bites, reptile cases, keeping snakes as pets and etc in the search bar. But nothing has come up and I even did dog bites or cases involving dog bites some how they come up with child molesting cases. Thanks for the input though I appreciate it.

 

[wildlifephotographer]

I even typed in bans on reptiles or Monroe County bans on reptiles but nothing came up with that either. Maybe we have no cases involving snake bites. You would think there would be at least one case somewhere...