Court harpoons lawsuit by ‘whale’

Whales, dolphins and porpoises, shelve your lawsuits. A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that, sorry, you have no right to sue.

In Cetacean Community vs. Bush, Lanny Sinkin, the self-appointed lawyer for the world’s whale population, called for the president and secretary of defense to analyze the environmental effects of low-frequency sonar used on warships.

A district court dismissed the case, prompting Sinkin to contest the ruling before a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel.

In a complaint written in “first-person whale,” Sinkin argued that a whale’s nonhuman status should not prevent a suit.

“We have demonstrated our culture through a very high level of intelligence, very complex language, navigational ability matched by few humans outside Polynesia and a highly developed social system.”

The justices were not swayed. In the Endangered Species Act, for example, wrote Judge William A. Fletcher, “there is no hint ... that the ‘person’ authorized to bring a suit to protect an endangered or threatened species can be an animal that is itself endangered or threatened.”

Sinkin said that in today’s “poisonous” political atmosphere, he was unsure if he would appeal.

“Imagine,” said the Kurtistown, Hawaii, attorney, “if a court came out and said whales could sue.”

-- Ashley Powers