COMM 337, 207: Cat story

An ongoing saga in The Anchorage Daily News as a lawsuit over custody of a cat goes to trial today in Palmer, Alaska. The case falls well within the you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it range. Says Mat-Su borough reporter Andrew Welner:

Thursday, trial began in civil court to decide who owns Carl [the cat], who survived a February 2006 fire that destroyed Fosselman & Associates, an accounting firm on South Bailey Street. Catherine Fosselman, the firm's owner, according to her employees disregarded her car keys and company files to carry Carl to safety that night. She is suing the woman, Staci Fieser, with whom she placed Carl for safekeeping but who has kept Carl since.

Fosselman said she never meant for Fieser to have Carl permanently. She wants him back. And she wants $100,000 in punitive damages for loss of his companionship, she testified Thursday.

OK. How do you play something like this when you have to write it up? Straight. Absolutely straight.

Some great quotes, though. Here's how Welner handled jury questioning:

Prospective jurors were asked Wednesday whether they had any pets and whether a trial over a cat is a waste of court time and resources.

"If somebody had my dog, I'd probably sue them to get my dog back," said one woman.

"I'd rather see them come to court than go to the extremes of violence," said another.

One man said he could decide who gets the cat, but couldn't envision awarding monetary damages.

All three were eventually picked to serve on the 12-member jury, with two alternates, hearing the case.

There's nothing Welner could have added to that.