Man awarded over £1million after claiming his landlord stole his pet cat

05 November 2023 , 22:52

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Joshua Smith with his lawyer Michael Fuller

A jury has awarded a man nearly $1.4million (£1.13million) after ruling his landlord stole his pet cat.

Joshua Smith, 41, found the stray cat in 2017 and took him in at a drug recovery residential facility in Portland, Oregon, where he was staying. But when two years later the cat disappeared, Mr Smith sued the recovery house business, Pinestreet LLC, and his landlord Devon Andrade claiming he had "catnapped" his three-year-old Cheshire cat Frank.

Attorney Michael Fuller, who won the case at Multnomah County Circuit Court on Thursday, said: "The jury's message should be loud and clear to landlords. You need to respect the rights of tenants, especially when it comes to pets."

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He found the cat in 2017, but two years later the pet disappeared

Joshua with his cat Frank

According to Oregon Live, the landlord said he got his girlfriend to drop Frank off at a local shelter. Fuller said: "It turned out that the people on the jury were also animal lovers."

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When veterinarians found a microchip in the cat, they returned him to his original owner. The court case was not to establish who stole the cat but whether Smith was due punitive damages and recompense for the emotional stress caused by the catnapping.

Fuller said: "It turned out that the people on the jury were also animal lovers." But while Smith has now been awarded $1.375million (£1.11million), he will not be reunited with Frank.

He said he now plans to support others in the local community and maybe even buy a place of his own where he can welcome many animal friends. He added: "The most important thing was that I got my day in court. I got really lucky because I told the truth, no matter what."

Last year, a woman expressed her outrage after her neighbour kept "stealing" her cat after asking them not to. The anonymous mum claimed she could see her cat through the window of a local family, who kept letting the pet into their home.

Posting on the parenting forum Mumsnet, the woman said it was "obvious" her neighbours were letting the cat in on purpose and that she understood how it was "difficult to avoid" in the summer months, when people often leave their windows and backdoors open.

"My children are upset as [our] cat has basically buggered off and has to be lured into ours with food! The neighbours have said they’re not feeding him," the post read. "Am I being unreasonable to feel p***ed off about this and should I go round (again) to ask them to ignore my cat? Or am I being precious (and at least they’re kind to him)".

Chiara Fiorillo