We have won for the dogs who are victims of mistreatment in clubs!

In March 2016, we published a report entitled “Group abuse sessions — an unpublished investigation of dog training clubs by One Voice”, followed in September 2017 by a new article entitled “Investigation: the violent training of defence dogs.”

First victory in 2020

On 16 March 2018, a dog trainer trade union and thirty-three dog clubs, dog trainers, and dog education and training centres summoned us to the Valence High Court. They insisted that the Association was leading a disparaging campaign on the Internet against dog clubs and trainers, in particular requesting payment of five thousand euros for each of the complainants, so 170,000 euros in total for One Voice! On 14 January 2020, the court dismissed all of their claims and ordered them to pay the Association the sum of 2000 euros.

On appeal, the Court asked the complainants: “But... what are you concerned about exactly?!”

The dog trainer trade union and seventeen other unsuccessful applicants out of the original thirty-four appealed on 8 April 2020 and were then asking us for 91,800 euros. Madness.

The trainers were arguing that accusing a whole sector of professional dog trainers of mistreatment and violence would constitute disparagement which would have the effect of bringing discredit to their entire line of business, and that accusing all clubs and canine professionals of violence against animals would constitute the dissemination of misleading and malicious information. Except...

We defended ourselves, in particular by affirming that we were there to inform the public on a subject of general interest, and that we relied on a sufficient factual basis, in this case: the investigation reports and the reports received. Our work was covered by freedom of expression and our target was solely the practices and methods used. We had also promoted dog-friendly practices, and to top it all off, none of the complainants had been a victim of disparagement...

A decision on 15 March 2022, which confirmed the precedent and increased our costs

The Court delivered a concrete assessment of the incriminated passages to reject the requests of the trainers one by one!

The Court had also ordered the trainers to pay 4000 euros to the Association in accordance with their legal fees, to which the costs of 1500 euros for the first-instance lawyer were added.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice