Dog Owner Hires Lawyer For Dangerous Dog Appeals Court

Mittsy is a 13 year old lab collie mix. She belongs to Valerie Desanti who lives in the Porters Neck community of New Hanover County. Charles Reis is Valerie’s neighbor. His main complaint about Mittsy is the dog is not consistently leashed even though she was found to be dangerous six months ago due to an apparent threatening attack.

Valerie Desanti calls Charles Reis a neighborhood bully. She said his stories are fabricated. In fact she’s embarrassed by having to deal with it, but not too embarrassed to hire an attorney for Dangerous Dog Appeals Court. Wilmington attorney Kristine Ferrell said, “Mittsy is a well-behaved dog. There may be tension between two neighbors, the rest of the neighborhood seems to understand what a well behaved dog Mittsy is.”

After hearing both sides of the case, appeals court member John Boozer voted to rule in the owner’s favor. “I just don’t feel like a 12-year-old plus dog is that much of a threat
if she’s had cataract surgery and she’s had knees replaced, I don’t imagine she feels like charging somebody.”

Joyce Bradley and Whitney Doremus agree Mittsy should not be carrying the dangerous dog label. For Valerie Desanti it is a welcome relief. It was not the news Charles Reis had in mind. “All I can say is they didn’t have enough time to read the material thoroughly, because there was more information in there that would have smacked with the truth. We didn’t get the right answer here.”