California Court of Appeal
Cal. Veterinary Med. Ass'n v. City of W. Hollywood, B188723
In a case involving a veterinary association's challenge to the City of West Hollywood's ban, as cruel and inhumane, on the practice of animal declawing unless necessary for a therapeutic purpose, summary judgment in favor of the association declaring the ordinance invalid and enjoining further enforcement is reversed as: 1) although Business and Professions Code section 460 prohibits local legislation imposing separate and additional licensing requirements on relevant individuals, it does not preclude otherwise valid local regulation of the manner in which a business or profession is performed; and 2) although the city's adoption of an anti-cruelty measure prohibiting nontherapeutic declawing of animals has an incidental impact on veterinarians practicing within its city limits, the ordinance is not preempted by virtue of the state's regulation of veterinary medicine through the California Veterinary Medical Practice Act (VMPA) or its implementing regulations.
Appellate Information
- Decided 06/22/2007
- Published 06/24/2007
Judges
- PERLUSS, P.J.
Court
- California Court of Appeal
Counsel
- For Appellees:
- Eisenberg, Raizman, Thurston & Wong and Orly Degani; Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold and Orly Degani; Michael Jenkins, City Attorney, for Defendant and Appellant., Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, George A. Nicoud III, Sarah E. Piepmeier, San Francisco; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Perlette Michele Jura, Kahn A. Scolnick and Vanessa C. Adriance, Los Angeles, for Animal Legal Defense Fund, The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights and the Paw Project as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Appellant., Dennis J. Herrera, City Attorney, Danny Chou, Deputy City Attorney, for The City and County of San Francisco as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Appellant., Wilke, Fleury, Hoffelt, Gould & Birney and Daniel L. Baxter, Sacramento, for Plaintiff and Respondent.