The United States Supreme Court is a federal court, meaning in part that it can hear cases prosecuted by the U.S. government. (The Court also decides civil cases.) The Court can also hear just about any kind of state-court case, as long as it involves federal law, including the Constitution. And any case can involve federal law.
The Supreme Court gets to choose the appellate cases it will consider—it grants certiorari (or "cert") when it agrees to decide a case. Grants of cert are quite rare—the Court typically agrees to take on somewhere between 100 and 150 of the 7,000 cases it comes across each year. (See " About the Supreme Court .")
When someone kills or injures your animal, the law primarily (although not exclusively) sees this as an injury to “property.”. A lawyer who specializes in personal injuries or injury to property (called “torts” in the law) should be able to handle the case.
Since 1979, the Animal Legal Defense Fund has been the leader in the fight to win animals the legal protection they so desperately need—and deserve. Your generous support is vital to our continued success.
Animal law is a relatively new, and growing, specialty within the law, and an increasing number of lawyers specialize in cases involving animals. In most cases, however, while it may be advantageous, it is not necessary to find an attorney who specializes in animal law specifically.
However, due to the limited potential for recovery of damages in animal cases, it is possible to pay more for an attorney’s services than you are likely to recover if you win your case, barring an award for punitive or emotional distress damages.