Posted on 02/01/2022 2:08:19 PM PST by Drew68
(WOAI/KABB) — A lawsuit was filed on Wednesday after a 22-year-old college student after being horribly attacked by several dogs last month.
According to Brooker Law of Dallas, Jaqueline Durand was mauled by two dogs and left "permanently and catastrophically disfigured."
The lawsuit says that Durand, a University of Texas at Dallas student, was hired by Dr. Justin Bishop and his wife Ashley to care for the couple's dogs while they were out of town.
On Dec. 23, Durand went to the couple's home. She had just opened the front door to walk Lucy, a German shepherd mix breed, and Bender, a mixed-breed pit bull, according to the lawsuit. The animals were not in kennels and she was immediately violently attacked.
“The dogs knocked Jacqueline off balance, causing her to fall and drop her cell phone. Then, the dogs violently attacked her head and face — mauling her catastrophically. The dogs were so violent and bloodthirsty that they pulled all of Jacqueline’s clothes off, including her blue jeans,” according to NBC News who were citing the lawsuit.
The dogs tore off and ate her ears and most of her face below her eyes, according the lawsuit. They also left hundreds of puncture wounds all over the woman's body.
It was just one day before her 22nd birthday.
According to NBC News, Durand had previously met the dogs when she discussed the job with Ashley Bishop.
The Bishops were aware their pets had violent tendencies, the lawsuit said, and the dogs were out of the kennels they were usually kept in. The lawsuit cited a sign by the Bishops’ home entrance that read: “Crazy Dogs. Please Don’t Knock or Ring the Bell. Call or Text Instead.” The sign also urged visitors to leave packages by the door, according to the lawsuit.
Durand remains hospitalized, having undergone multiple reconstructive surgeries with many more to go. She recently took to social media to thank everyone for the support she's received since the attack.
"I am so blessed to be surrounded by so much love and support as I go through this hard time in my life. Thank you everyone who is supporting and loving me every step of the way since the beginning!❤️ I am making good progress every single day that I’m here. Prayers are being answered! Thank you."
The dogs were captured and placed in the care of the City of Coppell before a municipal judge decided this month that both animals should be euthanized, according to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.
The owners should be tried as if they committed the attack themselves.
The Dogs of Peace.
Don’t you dare criticize the breed of peace!
The lawsuit cited a sign by the Bishops’ home entrance that read: “Crazy Dogs. Please Don’t Knock or Ring the Bell. Call or Text Instead.”
Mixed breeds, German Shepherd and pitbull.
I would not have gone there.
Horrible.
You put down “crazy dogs.”
Spend some time on dog bite cases. They can be very, very damaging to the victim.
CA got rid of the “one free bite rule” for dog owner liability. It’s now strict liability with possible “assumption of the risk” defense where the guard dog bites the burglar.
But this is a very weird reaction by the dogs. Most cases are a single bite. I’d look into whether the owners fed them gunpowder, abused them, or otherwise trained the dogs to attack to kill.
Agreed. They were criminally negligent.
Poor girl.
Those dogs were an accident waiting to happen. Should have been put down way before attacking that poor girl.
I own an apartment rental. One girl said her pit bull was her therapy dog. I told her it would be a cold day in hell before I allow a pit bull on my premises so sue me
Never heard back.
Decent people would simply give her whatever she asked for. They can never compensate her for what was done to her.
You would be surprised how many times this kind of thing happens to pet sitters to some extent. And it is not just crazy dogs!
“””was hired by Dr. Justin Bishop””””
Doc Bishop’s Malpractice Insurance is not going to cover this screwup.
The Doc’s deep pockets will be totally emptied and a lien put on future earnings.
So where were the owners and who let the dogs out (no pun unintended)?
Friends had a pitbull euthanized after it killed their smaller dog. P>Lucy was the pitbull’s name. Seems cursed...
My guess. Pure speculation, only based on the bits of information here.
These dogs were acting on guard instinct. The pit-bull terrier type was the leader and kept on with his natural endless attack which the Shepherd followed. Pack mentality.
Normal dogs do not do much except to try to break the behavior of the “victim”. Hence your “single bite”. Fighting dogs keep going, obsessively. PBTs are fighting dogs, and it was bred into them.
At the very least, she should’ve been acclimated to them much more than just meeting them once. Stupid to allow a virtual stranger to check on them when they seem to know the dogs go overboard.
This i just wrong in so many ways-that poor pet sitter had to have been lied to by the dog owners-I doubt she’d have taken the gig if they had told the truth-”oh, by the way-pay no attention to the fact that the dogs turn killer if you let them out of the kennels”...
The owners sound negligent and irresponsible-you do NOT pen up high-energy guard breed dogs for extended periods-they will go psycho like these did-they need to be socialized, played with, trained, etc from day one by their owners-and they need room to run around-not be cooped up in what is essentially a box with see-thru walls-no winners in this-but I hope the young woman sues the owners into financial insolvency-they are stupid people who should never have a pet...
The claim is likely being fought by insurance companies at this point.
If you look at Craigslist most of the dogs are pit-bull or pit-bull mix. Not sure if that is indicative of the dog population in general.
Agree that the owners should have had the pet sitter interact with the dogs, take them for a walk, etc every day for a week or more to be safe-the poor woman was a total stranger to the dogs who were already psycho timebombs from being penned up all the time-stupid owners...
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