A New Jersey judge has permitted a lawsuit against a Lancaster County dog breeder to proceed, which could give a green light to other consumers in that state to sue local breeders in New Jersey, where consumer fraud laws are stricter than in Pennsylvania.

Tuesday, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Joseph C. Visalli ruled that  sufficient "minimum contacts" existed to establish personal jurisdiction. In effect, the ruling means that even though defendant C.C. Pets LLC, formerly known as Puppy Love, is located in Pequea, C.C. Pets advertised in The Philadelphia Inquirer, intending to sell pets in New Jersey. Payment for the dog in question, a Labradoodle, was made through a New Jersey bank, and the medical costs incurred when the dog succumbed to parvovirus were all incurred in New Jersey.

The case, filed in Cape May County by Lewis and Stephanie Ostrander of Marmora, N.J., will now go to discovery, said the couple's Paoli lawyer, Garen Meguerian.

A phone message left with C.C. Pets' attorney, David Azotea of Atlantic City, N.J., was not returned.

Reached by phone Friday, C.C. Pets owner Joyce Stoltzfus said she had no comment.

The case is being watched closely by "puppy mill" opponents nationwide. Said Libby Williams of New Jersey Consumers Against Pet Shop Abuse, "If the Ostrander case is victorious, this will set excellent precedent and, according to our attorney, will provide great language for future matters.

"Maybe Pennsylvania can learn some lessons from its neighbor to the east, where thousands of Pennsylvania puppies are sold every year."

'Deceptive conduct'
The Ostranders, who are being counter-sued by C.C. Pets for comments made in newspaper stories and Internet posts about the situation, declined comment.

But Meguerian said his clients found C.C. Pets online and bought the dog, a Labrador-poodle mix, for $530 in November 2006. It appeared to be ill when they bought it, but Meguerian said C.C. Pets owner Joyce Stoltzfus told the couple that they should expect the dog to have diarrhea, to vomit and be lethargic, that "this was just the dog adjusting to the new environment."

"This was their first dog," said Meguerian. "They didn't know."

The dog threw up in the Ostranders' car on the way from Pequea to New Jersey; subsequently, it vomited and defecated all over their house, said Meguerian. A few days later the couple noticed blood in the dog's stool and took it to a veterinarian, who diagnosed it with parvovirus, a common canine virus. The dog remained at the vet's office for several days, but ultimately had to be euthanized. The veterinary care cost the Ostranders more than $4,300, money, Meguerian said, the recently married couple had been given for their wedding.

The couple subsequently filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania attorney general's office under the state's "Puppy Lemon Law." But state officials found no pattern of "deceptive conduct" and opted not to pursue the case.

The kennel at 267 Riverview Road has a history of violations stretching back more than two decades, and was fined $35,000 by the state in 2000 for selling sick puppies and misinforming buyers about the health or breeding qualities of the animals, according to newspaper records.

In 2001, it was reported, the State Board of Veterinary Medicine cited Joyce Stoltzfus for practicing veterinary medicine without a license, and the Bureau of Dog Law issued a citation for unsanitary kennel conditions.

An examination of more than 300 consumer complaints from seven Northeast states led the attorney general in May 2005 to impose more than $75,000 in fines, restitution and investigation costs. It also required owners Joyce and Raymond Stoltzfus to provide customers with proof that an independent vet had examined the dogs at least 15 days before the sale, or to have dogs examined within two days after.

Pa. vs. N.J. law
In court filings, the Ostranders say C.C. Pets produced health certificates that appeared to be signed by a veterinarian, indicating that the 7-week-old dog was in good health. But according to a July 7 Philadelphia Inquirer article, Meguerian told the court that "it appeared the health documentation had been forged with the pre-printed signature of a veterinarian."

"This looked like an orchestrated scheme to ignore signs of illness" in dogs that C.C. Pets was selling, Meguerian said by phone last week.

Pennsylvania's "Puppy Lemon Law," he said, is simply insufficient to protect consumers. "It runs counter to human nature," he said, noting the law requires consumers to either return the "defective" dog or be reimbursed for veterinary fees that can't exceed the purchase price.

"Most people aren't going to say, 'This puppy's not working out; I think I'll send it back to where I got it,' " he said. Unscrupulous sellers, he said, "use human compassion in their favor."

But New Jersey laws are different, tougher. Plaintiffs need only to prove an intent to defraud, whereas in Pennsylvania, actual fraud must be proven.

Meguerian said that since news of the case made headlines, he's been contacted by numerous other New Jersey consumers complaining about buying sick puppies in Pennsylvania.

Williams, of the anti-puppy mill New Jersey Consumers Against Pet Shop Abuse, noted that New Jersey laws protecting dog buyers are among the strongest in the nation.

"I find it ironic that we could soon be extending legal protection to those purchasing dogs outside the state," she said.

"This could be the impetus to effectively put an end to puppy millers and others who commit consumer fraud and abuse."

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Gil Smart is associate editor of the Sunday News. E-mail him at gsmart@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-8817.