To make a long story short, I work for a 501(c)(3) dog rescue. We had a lady take a dog for our trial period and signed a contract stating that the dog is the rescues property until such time the final adoption agreement (separate document/contract) is signed. For various reasons we decided to not adopt the dog out to her. She broke several of the rules in the trial agreement that she signed. Before she broke the rules she sent a text saying “we want to finalize the adoption” to which we responded “great, we will get back to you with our availability.” The dog was removed from her care and she filed a case of replevin against us. She dragged us to county court saying the text message constituted as an executed agreement and lost. She has now filed a de novo appeal with the circuit court and the trial is set for November. This is a complete waste of the courts time and is a simple contract case which is exactly what the judge that denied her motion for replevin said to her. The family that has been fostering the dog has decided to adopt but before we could do the trial period and adoption she filed the de novo case. To act in good faith we have not adopted the dog out because we’re afraid this will look bad on our part.

So what I’m asking is there any way we can file to have this process sped up? We could go to court tomorrow with all our evidence and show the judge this is about a contract and the text saying “We want to finalize the adoption” is not a contract.