Humane Society is sued, judge won't step down 

Friday, June 2, 2000

By LIZ COBBS
NEWS STAFF REPORTER 

 The five-count lawsuit filed Thursday in Washtenaw County Circuit Court seeks $1 million in damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress suffered by the dog's owners, Hiroshi and Seiko Ikuma. It was the second lawsuit filed this week by the couple.

 Meanwhile, the judge who ordered Ato (pronounced "Otto") destroyed refused to disqualify herself Thursday from presiding over a stay of execution request.

 Attorney Raymond G. Mullins asked 15th District Judge Julie Creal Goodridge to remove herself from the case claiming she had not been objective to the Ikumas.

 Goodridge said that because she ruled against the Ikumas does not mean she has a personal bias against them.

 The judge ordered Ato destroyed last October after hearing testimony on the dog biting then 13-year-old Alex Newton who delivered an Ann Arbor News paper to the Ikumas' house on Aug. 23, 1998, and biting at least two other people at separate times. Newton's injuries required 13 stitches, according to court records.

 Thursday's hearing was initially scheduled for Mullins to ask Goodridge whether the 7-year-old chow can be kept alive pending an appeal of the case to the Michigan Court of Appeals. But Goodridge did not rule on that request after Mullins asked her to disqualify herself.

 Assistant City Attorney Robert West asked Goodridge to deny Mullins' request, saying her ruling against the Ikumas is no basis for her to disqualify herself.

 Mullins said he will now ask 15th District Chief Judge Elizabeth Pollard Hines for a hearing on the disqualification issue.

 Goodridge's decision to have the dog destroyed last October was appealed to Washtenaw County Circuit Court. In May, Chief Circuit Judge Timothy P. Connors upheld Goodridge's ruling.

 Because Mullins' motion for a stay of execution was not heard Thursday, Ato remains alive and housed at the Humane Society of Huron Valley.

 Before the hearing began Thursday, Mullins filed the lawsuit which names the Humane Society, its board of directors and interim executive director, Barbara Levine, as co-defendants.

 Levine said Thursday that the Humane Society was not aware that a lawsuit had been filed and could not comment.

 The suit contends that the Ikumas' civil rights were violated because when they visit Ato, they are locked in a 3-foot-by-5-foot cage with the dog, left unattended and cannot get out until a worker lets them out.

 Mullins said the Ikumas would be in trouble should they have a medical emergency, seeing that Hiroshi Ikuma has heart problems. The suit also contends that the Humane Society has frequently changed the couple's visiting hours, and will not allow them to take the dog to a larger, fenced, visiting area. The couple pays $25 daily boarding fees.

 The Ikumas also contend in their complaint that they experienced emotional distress when another dog was euthanized close to Ato's cage during one of their visits. The suit further alleges false imprisonment caused by the Ikumas being locked up in the dog's cage for long periods of time and negligence on the part of Levine and the Humane Society's board for the way the Ikumas have been treated.

 On Tuesday, the couple filed a suit naming Ann Arbor city officials, Alex Newton and his parents, Roger and Coco Newton, as defendants. The Ikumas contended their civil rights were violated during the city's investigation of the August 1998 attack.

 After Ato bit Alex Newton, the city of Ann Arbor charged Seiko Ikuma with harboring a vicious animal. But a jury acquitted Ikuma of the misdemeanor criminal charge in December 1998. In March 1999, the city of Ann Arbor asked the court to order that the dog be destroyed.

 The Ikumas' legal situation has garnered attention from around the world due, in part, to a Web site that posts the legal news about the case.