Mark was very angry that Jeff would even suggest selling him. "You're my dog." Mark proceeded to beat Jeff with a newspaper until Jeff was
quiet and submissive again. Mark then grabbed Jeff's balls and said, "These are mine. Remember that always. I own your balls."
Jeff said, "Yes, sir" and didn't resist.
But Jeff had warned the Hansen's about this and had prepared them. They took legal action with the help of Pete and Josh. They could not
directly sue Mark because legally, they had no grounds. But they contacted the ASPCA and TransDem on Jeff's behalf and Mark was sued for
cruelty to animals by the ASPCA and although TransDem could not sue Mark, they filed a suit on Jeff's behalf using TransDem lawyers suing
Mark for stealing Jeff's Chronivac and taking control of Jeff's life.
The case got tremendous publicity, partly because Jeff was such a celebrity already in the dog show circuit, partly because TransDem wanted
the publicity to promote TransDem business, and partly because this was an unusual case: the first case of cruelty to animals used when the
animal in question was a human. So Jeff was photographed and filmed often while wearing nothing but his collar and sometimes on a leash.
They had to make some quick decisions on how to deal with the case and Jeff was given the chance to present his case in court as he was
considered one of the litigants. So it was an unusual view to see a court case where some of the people were naked: Jeff sitting there at the
table for the defense with Callie and Josh both sitting behind him as witnesses. The judge finally opened the courtroom to any dogs so long as
they did not disrupt procedures.
Even Victoria showed up in court. But Jeff felt sorry for her when he saw her because it was quite obvious that Mark was ignoring her. He
practically drug her by the leash instead of letting her walk with him. At times, Mark even forced her to be on display so that everyone could
see that he owned her. When some of the guys in the courtroom began pinching her Mark took the side of the guys instead of defending
Victoria.
Jeff turned to Larry and asked, "I thought the satellite inhibits sexuality."
Larry said, "It inhibits but doesn't completely prevent or else you and Callie couldn't breed. Unfortunately with the body that Victoria has, she
attracts so much sexual attention that it overrides the satellites inhibitory influence."
When Callie was called up to the stand, Mark pinched her ass as she walked by. Immediately Jeff began growling at Mark and the judge had to
bang the gavel and call, "Order in the court" to get Jeff to settle down. When Callie was headed back to her seat, Mark stood up and pinched
her nipple and that was too much for Jeff who immediately tackled Mark biting him and punching him in the face. The guards had to restrain
Jeff and even under restraint, Jeff was snarling and barking and ready to attack Mark again. They pulled Jeff out of the room and he couldn't
come back into court until he was wearing a muzzle.
The cameramen interviewed some of the audience and several of the women admired Jeff saying comments like, "I'm jealous of Callie." "If only
Jeff were a human, I'd love to be his girl." "If only my husband acted more like Jeff." or "He almost makes me want to be a dog if only I could be
with him."
A few of the women on the other hand took Mark's side by saying that Jeff was a bad dog who should be neutered. These women typically
made comments like, "Mark reminds me of my Dad, authoritative. You don't talk back to men like that." or "If only Jeff were more obedient
Mark wouldn't have to beat him."
A few days later, Mark came home to find Victoria dead from slitting her wrists. The suicide note read: "You apparently don't love me. I've tried
my best. I made my body into your perfect fantasy. I've done everything you've asked, everything I could but it wasn't good enough. You prefer
Jeff over me. So I'm getting myself out of your way. You can have Jeff and no longer have to care about garbage like me."