{"id":9284,"date":"2025-06-23T23:50:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T23:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/9284\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T23:50:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T23:50:16","slug":"a-brooklyn-judge-has-declared-that-dogs-are-legally-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/9284\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brooklyn Judge Has Declared That Dogs Are Legally Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s official: In New York, dogs aren’t just good boys\u2014they\u2019re family<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a groundbreaking ruling that has tails wagging from Bushwick to the Bronx, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Aaron Maslow declared that dogs are no longer just property in the eyes of the law, but rather \u201cimmediate family.\u201d The decision stems from a tragic 2023 case involving a dachshund named Duke, who was struck and killed by a car while on a walk with his owner\u2019s mother in Mill Basin, per the New York Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED:\u00a0The 10 best dog-friendly restaurants in NYC right now<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The case, brought by Trevor DeBlase and his mother Nan, challenged the legal status of pets in wrongful death and emotional distress cases. Historically, pets have been treated like personal property, meaning damages were limited to their monetary value (read: the price of a purebred pup, not the priceless grief they leave behind). But Judge Maslow\u2019s ruling rewrites the rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Court fails to see why a beloved companion pet could not be considered \u2018immediate family,\u2019\u201d the judge wrote, allowing the DeBlases to seek compensation typically reserved for those who witness a close relative\u2019s injury or death.\u00a0Nan, who was physically tethered to Duke at the time, now qualifies for these broader damages. Trevor, though deeply affected, can only pursue financial losses since he wasn\u2019t present at the scene, which is one bittersweet distinction in an otherwise historic win.<\/p>\n

Animal rights groups are hailing the ruling as a major shift. \u201cIt\u2019s an incremental but important step in recognizing that pets aren\u2019t just property\u2014they\u2019re individuals who matter,\u201d Christopher Berry of the Nonhuman Rights Project told Gothamist<\/a>. (The organization filed supporting briefs in the case.)<\/p>\n

Maslow backed up his decision by pointing to growing social and legal recognition of pets as family: from pet trusts and divorce custody rulings to the fact that most airlines and hotels now treat pets as valued guests<\/a>. The decision, however, is limited to cases where a dog is struck while being walked on a leash\u2014so no, your emotional support ferret isn\u2019t covered. Yet.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Trevor shared a bittersweet tribute to Duke on Instagram, calling the ruling \u201ca monumental win for families of NYC.\u201d Alongside a photo of Duke in a green tux, he added: \u201cKnowing that something good has come out of this tragedy brings me some kind of solace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s official: In New York, dogs aren’t just good boys\u2014they\u2019re family. In a groundbreaking ruling that has tails…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,10336,405,403,10337,5226,5225,5228,5227,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-9284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-categories-things-to-do","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-news-city-life","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-things-to-do","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114735364484549452","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}