D.E.L.T.A. Rescue v. Los Angeles County

D.E.L.T.A. Rescue filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, January 14, 2008 against Los Angeles County, Supervisor Gloria Molina, Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, Supervisor Don Knabe, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Department of Animal Care and Control Director Marcia Mayeda, CEO William T. Fujioka, and Auditor-Cotroller J. Tyler McCauley. The 25 page complaint alleges the following:

• During the past 36 months or more, Los Angeles County, Marcia Mayeda, and the Department of Animal Care and Control failed to obtain proper licenses and had and have failed and refused to maintain records for storing and dispensing controlled substances used by the Department of Animal Care and Control to euthanize and sedate animals. As a result, the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency has initiated an investigation into Los Angeles County and the Department of Animal Care and Controls euthanasia practices and has threatened the Department of Animal Care and Control and Los Angeles County with fines in the tens of millions of dollars.
• In response to the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency's investigation and in response to requests made by the plaintiff to produce records under California's Public Record's Act, Marcia Mayeda and the Department of Animal Care and Control issued orders to fabricate records and destroy email and other "paper trails" concerning the Department of Animal Care and Control and Los Angeles County's non-compliance with federal and state euthanasia record keeping requirements.
• The Department of Animal Care and Control does not have and is critically lacking in equipment for rendering proper medical diagnoses for animals under their care, possession, and control.
• Los Angeles County and the Department of Animal Care and Control have not maintained a lawful and adequate medical treatment program.
• The Department of Animal Care and Control, under the supervision of Marcia Mayeda, has engaged and continues to engage in unlawful and inhumane euthanasia practices. The Department of Animal Care and Control has sent animals to be disposed of to D & D Disposal and Rendering while they are still alive; animals are held down and stepped on while being euthanized; animals are often euthanized out in the open and in front of other animals; and tranquilizer medications are not made available to the Department of Animal Care and Control employees to administer as needed to animals before they are euthanized.
• Animals with medical conditions that are easily detected with the correct type of medical equipment are being released to the public and rescue organizations undiagnosed.
• Animals are subjected to horrible conditions such as having to reside in their own urine and feces.
• The Department of Animal Care and Control routinely refuses to provide prompt and necessary veterinary care to animals as are in need of such care, refuses to undertake any reasonable efforts to make treatable animals adoptable, and refuses to allow the public or rescue organizations the opportunity to provide prompt and necessary veterinary care to such animals in need of such care.
• In a previous lawsuit filed against the Department of Animal Care and Control, Los Angeles County has retained outside special counsel, along with general counsel, to defend its interests in that case, and therefore has incurred and will continue to incur substantial attorneys fees and other expenses at great cost to the taxpayers of Los Angeles County.
• The city of Beverly Hills, one of the cities that contracts to the Department of Animal Care and Control, has initiated an investigation through its code enforcement offices and conducted a surprise inspection of the Carson Animal Shelter.
• A video exists which shows a shelter employee at the Baldwin Park Animal Shelter dragging a Rottweiler with a broken back across the grounds through puddles banding its head on the ground. The employee has not been terminated and/or disciplined.
• The Department of Animal Care and Control does not vaccinate animals upon impound, does not preform an examination by a veterinarian or registered veterinarian technician upon impound, and does not medicate animals as prescribed.
• The Department of Animal Care and Control employees do not follow proper sanitizing techniques in that they do not sanitize cages between new dogs and they do not isolate sick dogs from the general population.
• An employee at the Carson Animal Shelter injected animals with cleaning solution and water in order to euthanize them. The employee ("whistleblower") who reported this was terminated and Marica Mayeda authorized the termination.
• Animals are wrongfully euthanized because the Department of Animal Care and Control employees fail to check records to indicate the correct animals are being euthanized. In addition, animals are wrongfully euthanized because employees do not scan for a mirochips before euthanasia.
• At least at the Carson Animal Shelter, unqualified kennel workers are being given the responsibility of administering medications to animals resulting in medications ending up on cage floors and medications not being given in the prescribed doses.
• D.E.L.T.A. Rescue has complained to the Board of Supervisors for years. Their concerns have been validated and conditions have worsened. Los Angeles County, the Board of Supervisors, William T. Fujioka, and J. Tyler McCauley are not responding adequately and/or responsibly.
• During the past 36 months, D.E.L.T.A. Rescue publicised the inhumane conditions at the Los Angeles County shelters and Los Angeles County's practice of supplying euthanized animals for the purpose of rendering them into animal feed and other commercial product. The Defendants, in turn, have targeted and retaliated against D.E.L.T.A. Rescue and its President, Leo Grillo.
• Marcia Mayeda and the Department of Animal Care and Control have failed to conform with state and federal law while charging for services to the cities they contract with that are not actually provided. The Department of Animal Care and Control and Los Angeles County routinely overcharge and/or undercharge their contract cities.
• The Department of Animal Care and Control and Marcia Mayeda have retaliated against numerous persons, including employees, volunteers, and citizens for exposing the patterns and practices described in the lawsuit.
• The Department of Animal Care and Control employs and has employed persons, including Marcia Mayeda, that are not qualified for their positions and who do not perform their functions competently and in accordance with the law, and who routinely charge and receive pay from Los Angeles County for time they are not working and obtain compensation in violation of County rules, regulations, and practices.
• Marcia Mayeda and the Department of Animals Control have routinely failed to follow Los Angeles County fiscal policies and procedures in obtaining, or failing to obtain, approval for purchases from vendors for supplies, equipment and goods services at the Los Angeles County shelters and have failed to maintain adequate records concerning the same.
• Marcia Mayeda, the Department of Animal Care and Control, and its managers and other employees routinely destroy and/or fabricate records for the purpose of obstructing justice, depriving persons of their property, and/or for obtaining and spending public funds under false pretenses.
• The amount of money represented by Marcia Mayeda and the Department of Animal Care and Control to the County, State, and contract cities that have been spent on the care and treatment of animals in the County's shelter on an annual basis is far in excess of the money actually spent on the animals and may have been overstated by millions of dollars.
• Los Angeles County, Marcia Mayeda, and the Department of Animal Care and Control routinely seek to redeem expenses from citizens of Los Angeles Counties whose animals have been impounded by the County and the Department which have not actually been incurred by the Department.
• The amount of taxpayer money which has been wasted and/or diverted through the actions of Marcia Mayeda, the Department of Animal Care and Control and it's agents and employees over the past 36 months may be in the tens of millions of dollars.
• Untold numbers of animals belonging to taxpayers of Los Angeles County's 50 contract cities during the past 36 months have been unlawfully injured and destroyed by the County and the Department.
• Marcia Mayeda and other private persons have and will continue to profit as a result of the violations of State and local law described in the lawsuit.