On October 28th, 1999, ferret owners and the New York Humane Society filed a lawsuit against Mayor Giuliani and the NYC Department of Health (DOH) stating that the Department of Health did not have the authority to ban ferrets in the City of New York. Unfortunately, the judges stated that the courts have very little authority to overturn any decision made by the DOH. Legally, they cannot interfere with most of what they do. Consequently, the lawsuit against Mayor Giuliani and the Department of Health was dismissed.