Flakes don't deserve a dime, let alone $8 mil

I'd call their bluff.

I wouldn't give Austin and Logan Flake a dime, let alone the $8 million they're demanding from Maricopa County taxpayers.

The Flakes were the temporary caretakers for the more than 20 dogs that died at the Green Acre Dog Boarding facility last June. They were indicted on 21 felony and seven misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. The owners of the facility, Jesse Todd and MaLeisa Hughes (Logan's parents), faced 22 felony counts, seven misdemeanors and one count of fraud. Flake is the son of U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake.

County Attorney Bill Montgomery dropped all charges against the Flakes, and all but the fraud charge against the Hugheses after defense attorneys showed the kennel's air-conditioning unit had stopped working because of a dirty air filter.

In the notice of claim attorney Dennis Wilenchik wrote, "The Flakes had no way of predicting

that the air conditioning was going to shut down unexpectedly in the middle of the night, apparently due to lack of maintenance on the air filters by the homeowners. They were merely guests in the home, and had no knowledge whatsoever of whether the air filters were being cleaned."

The couple's $8 million claim against the county alleges malicious prosecution, conspiracy, defamation, infliction of emotional distress and more.

I'd say bring it on.

Just check the comments to any of the news articles written about this incident by regular folks, potential members of the jury pool.

Like this from reader Patricia Rudy Hale, "This is called chutzpah. They are responsible for the deaths, but they want to sue because they were investigated. Disgusting people."

Or this from Dianne Szonn, "These two soiled their own names and reputation by not caring for these dogs ... How dare they have the nerve to sue!"

Or this from Barbara Anne West, "Even if this was a failure of the AC ... who collects money to care for pets and then doesn't bother to supervise them? Who would try to conceal the deaths of the animals if it was in fact an ACCIDENT ... These are people with NO morals and NO conscience..."

There are many, many more.

The Flakes' attorney says the way the investigation was handled and subsequent negative publicity caused "irreparable and permanent harm to their reputations and economic loss; loss of educational opportunities" and even "opportunities to serve in political or public office."

Then again, there were 28 dogs in the 9- by 12-foot room that night. Twenty-two died. Another ran away and was apparently struck by a car.

Jurors will hear all about that.

Shannon Gillette, who lost two golden retrievers in the incident, said afterward, "When you stuff 28 dogs into a room, that's animal cruelty. It doesn't matter what happened to the air-conditioning."

A reader named Brandy Merritt summed up the reaction most people have to the Flakes' $8 million claim: "Losing all faith in humanity..."