PALMER -- Jason Fieser's neck and ears flushed red as he sat on the witness stand Thursday in Judge Eric Smith's Superior Court.
In a note to the judge that Smith read aloud, a juror asked Fieser, an Alaska state trooper, why he turned red.
"This is upsetting to me," Fieser answered.
His wife's former boss at a Palmer accounting firm had pressured Fieser's superiors to fire him over, of all things, a cat, he testified.
Fieser, now posted in Dillingham, said a note from a superior had warned him of "internal consequences" and possible criminal charges should his wife, Staci, fail to hand over the cat, a 7-year-old orange tabby named Carl.
"I cannot make the decision whether to return the cat," Fieser said he replied. That was for his wife to decide.
"I told them not to threaten me. If they were going to charge me then charge me," he said.
Thursday, trial began in civil court to decide who owns Carl, who survived a February 2006 fire that destroyed Fosselman & Associates, an accounting firm on South Bailey Street. Catherine Fosselman, the firm's owner, according to her employees disregarded her car keys and company files to carry Carl to safety that night. She is suing the woman, Staci Fieser, with whom she placed Carl for safekeeping but who has kept Carl since.
Fosselman said she never meant for Fieser to have Carl permanently. She wants him back. And she wants $100,000 in punitive damages for loss of his companionship, she testified Thursday.
"Loss of cat consortium," said the Fiesers' attorney, Eric Conard, as he questioned Fosselman.
"I am not here to get rich. I am here to get my cat back," she said.
The punitive damages, her attorney, Andrew Robinson, told the jury, are meant to "send a message to anybody out there who wants to pull this kind of stuff that there are consequences to this type of action."
Fosselman filed suit in October 2006. Neither side in the dispute will acknowledge any attempt to settle the case short of trial.
However, Conard, on the eve of trial, said, "If there were discussions, they obviously didn't work."
Fosselman in a previous interview has denied trying to have Jason Fieser fired.
Prospective jurors were asked Wednesday whether they had any pets and whether a trial over a cat is a waste of court time and resources.
"If somebody had my dog, I'd probably sue them to get my dog back," said one woman.
"I'd rather see them come to court than go to the extremes of violence," said another.
One man said he could decide who gets the cat, but couldn't envision awarding monetary damages.
All three were eventually picked to serve on the 12-member jury, with two alternates, hearing the case.
For six years, Carl lived in the accounting office, brought there as a stray kitten picked up by Traci Weiland, a former Fosselman business partner. Another cat, Chloe, arrived in the office later. She did not survive the fire.
Conard asserts that Weiland signed an affidavit in October 2006 giving Carl to Staci Fieser. Fosselman claims Carl was not Weiland's to give.
Employees, former employees and clients took their turns testifying Thursday to Carl's charm.
Carl lay atop documents, begging for attention and impeding work in the office. His keepers showered him with toys, blankets and treats that were kept at nearly every desk. Fosselman said Carl came to prefer bottled water only and learned to drink from the water cooler.
"He seemed like a very popular cat," said her husband, Dale Fosselman.
At Christmas time Carl and Chloe had stockings hung next to those for the employees.
Carl's "had more in it than mine," testified employee Amy Levinson.
Robinson expects to conclude his case today.
Find reporter Andrew Wellner online at adn.com/contact/awellner or call him at 352-6710.
