A civil rights lawsuit challenging the authority of peace officers with the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has been dismissed by a federal judge after a lengthy analysis of abstention and claim splitting.
Eastern District Judge Arthur Spatt’s (See Profile) 40-page decision in Kanciper v. Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 12-cv-2104, means that for now the federal courthouse doors are closed to a woman who was arrested by SPCA agents and accused of neglecting animals and endangering a child.
