Community Corner
Palatine Man Sues Pet Boarding Center Over Lost Dog: 'Digger Was Part of Our Family'
Todd Caponi filed a lawsuit Friday against Baxter and Beasley, which looked after his dog while he and his family were on vacation in 2015.
PALATINE, IL — A Palatine man is suing a pet boarding center, accusing the facility of losing his dog last year while the animal was in its care.
Todd Caponi filed the lawsuit against Baxter and Beasley on Friday, Aug. 5, in Cook County Circuit Court, a year to the day that Digger, Caponi's German shepherd/beagle mix, was reported missing from the boarding center. Caponi had left Digger at Baxter and Beasley while the family was on vacation at Disneyland in California.
Using social media and other online outlets, Caponi launched a search for Digger that caught the attention of residents in and around Palatine. The Find Digger Facebook community currently has more than 3,600 followers, and some posts updating the public concerning the search for Digger reached more than 150,000 people.
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"Our unfortunate reality at this point is that Digger is probably never coming back," Caponi told Patch when asked why he decided to file a lawsuit against Baxter and Beasley now. "That disheartening reality piles onto the loss that my family and I have experienced over the past year as we have searched for him. Yet through it all, the facility has never accepted responsibility, and we felt like we had to turn to the justice system to hold them accountable."
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At the time Digger went missing, Baxter and Beasley claimed the dog escaped the facility after scaling an 8-foot-high fence. Caponi, however, believes a latch was left open, and that's how his dog got away.
"Digger was a part of our family," Caponi said. "Ever since, we keenly look at every dog we see being walked, riding in a car, sitting in a window, running in a backyard, listed on a shelter site, shown at an adoption, or even on TV. That will probably never stop."
Caponi's lawsuit is asking for more than $50,000 in damages.
PHOTO: Digger (Todd Caponi)
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