Q: I was given a dog. The people that gave me the dog now want it back. Can I legally charge them any amount I want?
They emailed me the papers, but I never had the dog registered in my own name. I have paid for rabies, kennel cough, and distemper shots. I have paid for grooming. I have paid for food, toys, treats, etc.
I made an agreement to give the dog back if they wanted her within 2 months. It's been over 3 months and they decided they want her back and feel I need to honor the agreement still. I told them no a couple of times. They wouldn't back off so I gave them the dog and charged them $2000. I came up with the $2000 by generously assessing boarding fees and typical expenses. They have threatened to sue for extortion. Should I be worried? Should I be taking any actions against them?
A:
As an "addendum" to my earlier advice, let me say that you are WELL within your rights to sell a dog that you own, for as much money as you can get. Of course, without seeing the actual agreement, there is no way to determine what "conditions," you and the previous owners agreed to, within the two months following your purchase of the dog. If the ONLY conditions in your agreement were that within two months they had the right to rescind the sale of their dog to you, then you are free to charge them as much as you want to get their dog back. On the other hand, if your agreement was that you would not only give them their dog back if they notified you within two months that they had "seller's remorse," but that you also agreed to charge them no more than your original purchase price, then you must be responsible for all the fees and costs you incurred during the time you owned the dog.
The previous owners threats to charge you with extortion is ridiculous. Extortion is defined as:
"Extortion is the act of extorting —using violence, threats, intimidation, or pressure from one’s authority to force someone to hand over money (or something else of value) or do something they don’t want to do." It is also a crime. They are not prosecutors and unless you promised to resell the dog to them for a certain re-purchase price, they're just remorseful sellers. People who sell their homes and then come back, often feel attached to their "old home" and want to repurchase it. Unfortunately, they find out that when they try to talk the current owners into "for old time's sake" selling it back to them for the amount the current owners paid for it, the new owners want whatever the "going rate" for that house would sell for, which could require the old owners to pay 2x-3x what they originally paid for it.
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