This lovely little lad is Palmer, a black Labrador Retriever/Pit Bull Terrier Mix currently staying with The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City.
Posted on 09/29/2010 9:35:16 AM PDT by JoeProBono
A woman says she suffered permanent damage to her right hand and arm after she was attacked by a Black Labrador named Tank.
Trena Wells filed a lawsuit on Sept. 14 in Madison County Circuit Court against Matthew and Amy Cooper of Moro.
Wells says she was a guest in the Coopers' home at 515 West Moro Dr. when the couples' Labrador retriever Tank escaped from the back yard and ran onto Moro Drive. The dog was struck around 3:30 p.m. by a white truck. Wells says the dog then ran back into the Cooper's home and attacked and bit her.
In Wells' suit, she claims the Cooper's should have known about and warned her of the dog's vicious nature. She claims they were negligent in not restraining, training, removing or preventing the dog from biting her.
In an additional count of the suit, Wells blames the Coopers for not following an Illinois statute that makes the owners of an animal responsible for damages when a lawful visitor who is acting peacefully is injured by the animal.
Wells also claims the Coopers were negligent in allowing their dog access to their property in a way that made their home unsafe.
Wells says she suffered severe, permanent damage to her right hand, thumb and right arm. She says she incurred medical expenses of $21,000, and suffered emotional distress and depression because of the incident.
She also claims lost wages.
In her complaint, Wells seeks a judgment of more than $50,000, plus costs on all four counts.
Zane T. Cagle of the Cagle Law Firm will be representing her.
Madison County Circuit Court case number: 10-L-952.
How the dog escaped makes a difference. Somebody left a gate open, that's probably negligence (unless the guest did it, then we've got contributory/comparative negligence). But if he scaled the fence or otherwise got out on his own (and had never done that before) it's a whole different story.
I know someone who’s not getting a Thanksgiving invitation this year.
Just knowledge of human nature and dog behavior. Labs as a general rule aren't biters unless they are attacked. A dog injured by a truck is going to bite, but he's not going to go LOOKING for somebody to bite. Most likely scenario is that she rushed to help him and he while in pain perceived it as an attack.
More importantly, the only info we have is from the complaint filed by the plaintiff's lawyer. He is NOT going to mention any contributory negligence on the part of his client.
Once an answer is filed, we'll have a better idea of what may have happened.
She didn't get enough damage already? She wants MORE?
The fact that she’s asking for such a small amount of money—just lost wages and medical expenses—indicates that she’s not doing this out of some malicious desire to make money off of the owners. She probably has no choice but to sue the dog’s owners, who may even understand and accept that this isn’t a case of the bite victim vs. them but her insurance company vs. their insurance company. In other words, the insurer is at the back of this, trying to recover their outlay on her claim. And this is what homeowners have homeowners’ insurance for.
If, as a right-handed person, I had sustained permanent damage to my right hand, I’d be asking for a lot more than $50K.
This lovely little lad is Palmer, a black Labrador Retriever/Pit Bull Terrier Mix currently staying with The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City.
“A woman says ...she was attacked by a Black Labrador named Tank. “
That’s RACIST
In this case, the situation is different in that the dog attacked a visitor in the home. However, injured animals do act/react differently than an animal that isn't injured. I doubt this Lab was "vicious", but was reacting to pain.
Even if you are very familar with the dog, when they are injured there is an increased risk of being bitten - pain will cause otherwise unexpected reactions.
Well, I’ll have to view this later this evening as my current ISP blocked the photo.
I’m surmising given the dog was hit by a car and ran in her yard.
silly me, maybe she was reading poetry to it
yep...it is with risk
Is that my Lab? That’s the exact look he has when he’s running!
Well, to be honest, he was running AT my son-in-law at the time.
To get that reaction from Ruby, you have to be holding a mallard duck.
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