Animal Law Cases
While you probably hired a successful attorney, an animal appraiser provides important keys to help unlock your animal law case, especially if it gets to litigation. Therefore, an animal appraiser should be knowledgeable about the breed of animal they are appraising. As with any profession, there are various areas of focus. Consequently, many animal appraisers will often specialize in a specific breed(s) or species. Some appraisers have diverse backgrounds and offer appraisals across multiple breeds and species.
It is important to find an appraiser who is knowledgeable and specializes in your species and/or breed for your animal appraisal. For example, if you need your Black Angus bull appraised for insurance purposes, you likely don’t want to hire an appraiser who specializes in dairy cattle. Why is this so important? This can affect the final valuation of your bull if the appraiser has limited knowledge regarding Black Angus and specific bloodlines. Likewise, if you need an appraisal completed for a Suri alpaca that is involved in litigation, you probably shouldn’t hire an appraiser who is only experienced with sheep.
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Litigation
If an appraisal is needed for litigation, it may be beneficial to choose an appraiser who is given the option to see the animal in person. A sight-unseen appraisal may cause problems if the other party's appraiser can view the animal in person. Certain appraisals for litigation do not require the animal to be seen in person. For example, if both parties agree to hire the same appraiser jointly, then you can agree that the appraiser does not need to see the animal in person. As long as the appraiser is properly following the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), an in-person inspection may not be required. In situations involving a stolen or deceased animal or if an appraisal is needed for a specific date in the past (retrospective appraisal), an in-person inspection may not be possible or necessary. In other instances, the appraiser may not have access to the animal. As a result, it is always best to discuss options with legal counsel.
Animal Appraisal Services
A competent appraiser will spend approximately 5 to 10 hours appraising a single animal. The time required may vary depending on the information provided about the animal or whether the appraisal is needed for litigation. An appraiser's job may include researching the animal's pedigree, conformation, show record, offspring, veterinary records, and more. Additional appraisal services include an appraisal review, which involves critiquing an appraisal report completed by another appraiser. A client may request an appraisal review if the appraisal is poorly executed or inaccurate, a factor that can be crucial in litigation.
Poorly written appraisal reports might include everything from spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, important information missing, or stated incorrectly. A misleading appraisal report may cause a gross over- or under-valuation of an animal's value. Before hiring an appraiser to perform an appraisal review, ask how many appraisal reviews they have completed in the past. Additionally, determine their success rate in challenging a poorly executed appraisal.
To adequately write an appraisal report, the appraiser must understand the value of the animal. They must also be aware of the current market and the overall economic conditions. In some situations, the parties involved in a lawsuit are unable to negotiate or reach a settlement and must proceed to court. The appraiser must be able to testify in court. They will need to testify as an expert witness regarding the appraisal report they completed.
Before Hiring an Appraisal Expert
Before choosing an appraiser for litigation, ask these questions first:
Animal Expert Witnesses
Since some appraisers deem themselves as legal experts, look at their past successes and qualifications when hiring. Ask yourself, what makes the individual the best animal expert witness for your lawsuit or arbitration? Additionally, some may offer consulting services. Animal expert witnesses may specialize in topics that include:
Your animal expert witness must communicate effortlessly. Depending on the topic, some animal experts may deal with complex issues. Even so, it is necessary that they answer questions for your attorney and even the court in a way that makes the information easy to understand. This is part of their job as an animal expert witness in the courtroom. Therefore, the appraiser must be professional and possess excellent verbal and teaching skills for the courtroom. Additionally, the appraisal report must be easy to understand while remaining professional.