$4.25 million award for pit bull attack––and the victim may see some of the money

ATLANTA, Georgia––A $4.25 million default judgment issued on June 1, 2018 against Atlanta landlord Jonathan Kent Hart, 61, for an August 26, 2016 pit bull attack may be the biggest yet in which the victim is believed to be likely to collect at least a substantial part of the money.

But further litigation is expected, while defendant Hart’s lack of response to the case perplexes observers.

Victim Nakisa Shavon Hiles, 40, formerly Nakisa Hiles Wilkerson, had just rented a room at 1572 Montreat Avenue SW, Atlanta, according to court filings, and “was entering the rear entrance in a cautious and prudent manner,” when “a pit bull broke off its chain,” charged Hiles, and without provocation, viciously attacked and repeatedly bit” her on her right leg and ankle.

“She had 32 stitches on her shin alone,” attorney Joshua Davis of the Morgan & Morgan national personal injury law firm told Greg Land of Law.com.

“It was obviously very traumatic. She walks with a permanent limp now,” Davis said.

Davis, Land wrote, “said the dog was apparently owned by a prior tenant who died some months earlier.

“Technically it was nobody’s dog,” Davis said. “The other tenants would throw it scraps. Apparently other neighbors had complained about it getting off the chain.”

Through online searching, ANIMALS 24-7 found an undated photo which appeared to show a pit bull at the location of the attack, near the rear entrance of 1572 Montreat Avenue SW, and discovered that the pit bull matched the appearance of a pit bull belonging to a former resident of the property, but whether the photo actually showed the pit bull in question could not be established.

(from the article above)

. . . "Best Friends Network volunteer was killed

Despite the severity of the Ingram mauling, the DeKalb County commissioners in May 2012 repealed a ban on possession of pit bulls, responding to a campaign led by Best Friends Network volunteer and vet tech trainee Rebecca Carey.

Carey, 23, was on August 13, 2012 found dead at her home from neck and upper torso injuries inflicted by one or more of the five dogs in her care, among whom were two pit bulls, two Presa Canarios, and a boxer mix."

The original post is an excerpt from the story at the link.

I did need to read it more than once at the link, as it covers a lot of information about the victim, the dog, the circumstances, the property (a rooming house), the landlord - who owns about 15-16 properties in the Atlanta area - the court case, . . . and in addition, there was a photo of the victim’s attorney. I am not sure why.

In my first comment, I also excerpted the last several paragraphs of the story because of the comments on the Best Friends Animal Society volunteer who was killed by her own dogs after she put up a challenge to the (then) pit bull ban, helped get it removed, and then was killed by her own dogs less than a year later.

It is not you. There is a lot in this article.

There are some here who are very fond of pit bulls, yes.

The dogs themselves can be quite charming, funny, goofy, and clown-like. Until they are not.

I do not know if this (designation) would be appropriate. I only know that these postings are the tip of the iceberg, and for a very long time, those who love pit bulls do so at the expense of human beings, and this is not acceptable. Neither is it acceptable to blame the victims of these attacks, which is what is done so often by pit bull lovers and apologists. This confuses the issue, and hurts the victims twice.

The numbers tell the story, or stories. It is important to post the news items on these attacks, and post the numbers and statistics. When I first began to look at these attacks, this breed-type of dog, and these pit bull owners and apologists, I was insulted, called names, and told to “educate myself”.

I educated myself. Other people have also done this. What information would you like in order to make your own decision on the safety of yourself, your loved ones, your pets, your neighborhood?

What I have found, at the end of my latest search, is that these dogs have been bred for brain abnormalities.

. . .abnormal disinhibited behavior is not functional, and it is unpredictable. Although high arousal and sudden attack can be functional in certain environments, this behavior is pathological in a safer environment, where a high level of arousal and aggressiveness are not necessary and only lead to unnecessary attacks and injuries. Research implicates the frontal cortex, subcortical structures, and lowered activity of the serotonergic system in impulsive aggression in both dogs and humans. Impulsive aggressive behavior in dogs seems to have a different biological basis than appropriate aggressive behavior.

Kathelijne Peremans, DVM discovered this by studying two different populations of impulsively aggressive dogs. Each dog had executed one or more attacks without the classical preceding warnings, and the severity of the attacks was out of all proportion to environmental stimuli. Peremans found a significant difference in the frontal and temporal cortices of these dogs, but not in the subcortical areas, compared to normal dogs. Peremans also found significant dysfunctions of the serotonergic systems among these dogs.

(Excerpt from book: The science of how behavior is inherited in aggressive dogs)(Semyonova)

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