What Money Can Buy

Over Christmas break, I fell into the deep hole of clicking on every hyperlink and wasting copious amounts of time reading online (as one does). It’s probably no shock that I am drawn to legal topics, especially those that are off the wall.  During one such spiral, I learned that oil baron Henry Flagler used his wealth and power to have the Florida legislature enact a law allowing him to divorce on the grounds that his spouse was incurably insane.  

Flagler was thrice married, first to Mary #1, then Ida Alice and finally Mary Lily (aka Mary #2).  Mary #1 died at age 47 of poor health, which was an easy path to marriage #2.  However, in 1895 Ida Alice was institutionalized for mental illness at Pleasantville Sanitarium (a fantastic name for an insane asylum if you ask me).  

Back in the day, one could not divorce a spouse for simply being insane; accordingly, Henry used his moolah to make it happen.  According to a 1901 news article in the “San Francisco Call,” Flagler went to Miami with Judge Jones and Judge Raney, with Raney sponsoring a new law which allowed insanity to be grounds for divorce.  

Coincidentally, notice of Flagler’s intent to divorce Ida appeared in papers and was tacked to the courthouse shortly after the trio’s arrival in Florida.  Four years after the passing of the law, it was repealed, with Flagler being the only individual to be divorced under the law.

Rumors swirled that Henry and Mary #2 were involved pre-divorce, and their marriage a mere 10 days post-divorce seems to bolster that theory.  Flagler built her the opulent estate known as Whitehall, which is now the Flagler Museum.

Karma, however, had the last laugh.  Flagler fell down the steps at Whitehall and died shortly thereafter.

I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

With the holidays approaching, Christmas music is being played just about everywhere you go.  Gayla Peevey sang “I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” back in 1953, and may be happy to learn the US District Court in Cincinnati, Ohio, afforded drug lord Pablo Escobar’s hippos the legal recognition as interested persons or people.

The hippos were illegally imported by Escobar in the 1980s and lived on his ranch in Columbia, with a host of other animals. When he died a decade later, the four hippos were left on his property due to the difficulty in moving them.  Facing no threats, they reproduced at an alarming rate and now number close to 100.  They also apparently have no fear of people, and take frequent trips into town (presumably for shopping).

Because of their growth, they pose a threat to the area’s biodiversity, as well as humans.  The government began sterilizing some of the animals, and others are proponents of simply killing them. If you’re wondering how the US became involved in a Columbian lawsuit, the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) petitioned the US District Court to award “interested persons” status to the hippos so American experts could testify in the court case.  A federal law allows “anyone who is an ‘interested person’ in a foreign lawsuit to ask a federal court to permit them to take depositions in the US in support of their case.”

Previous attempts to award animals personhood in the US have been denied, but Judge Karen Litkovitz has changed that in granting the ALDF/hippos’ request.  Many of the arguments in support of the recognition make sense – animals already have various protections under the law and this allows for enforcement of these rights.  In addition, businesses have standing in court and they are not biologically “people.”

I don’t know what impact, if any, the US ruling will have in a Columbian court.  However, this case sets precedent for the future rights of other animals; in the past, similar cases for chimpanzees and elephants were denied.  Maybe the judge has a soft spot for hippos - like the song says, “only a hippopotamus will do.”