The National Trial Lawyers
  • Home
    • Meet Our Team
    • Contact Us
    • Mission & Goals
    • FAQ
  • Webinars
  • News
  • Membership Directory
    • Top 100 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 100 Map – Criminal Defense
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Criminal Defense
  • Top 100
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 100 President’s Message
    • Diplomat
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 100 Badge
    • Media
  • Top 40
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Bootcamp
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 40 President’s Message
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 40 Badge
    • Media
  • Specialty Assoc
    • About
    • Shop
    • Officers
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Media
  • Nominate
    • Top 100
    • Top 40
    • Specialty Association
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer of the Year
    • Trial Team of the Year
    • America’s Most Influential Trial Lawyer
    • America’s Most Influential Law Firm
    • Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Shop
  • Magazine
    • A-List
  • Education and Networking Agenda
    • Trial Lawyers Summit
      • Summit Sponsors
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Boot Camp
    • Mass Torts Made Perfect
    • The Lanier Master Class 5.0 Trial Academy 2021
    • Webinars
  • Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame

Town Liable for $150,000 for Failure to Protect Against Dog Attack

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Larry Bodine

Video by Moovd.

Municipalities can be held liable for failing to protect a resident from dog attacks, as in the case of an 82-year old New York woman who recovered $150,000 when a neighbor’s dog attacked her in her own yard.

A jury in Hamburg, NY, ruled against the municipality for negligently failing to control the dangerous dog after providing assurances of her safety.

The Centers for Disease Control reports that one in five dog bites result in serious injuries requiring medical attention.

  • There are 4.5 million American dog bite victims every year.
  • Two dog breeds accounted for 74% of the attacks that resulted in death: pit bulls and rottweilers.
  • Over 700 U.S. cities have adopted breed-specific laws since the mid 1980s, just after pit bulls (fighting dogs) began leaking into the general population.

 

shutterstock_146663876

A government entity may be liable to an injured person if he or she can establish a special relationship between the employees of the city and the individual.

After a neighbor’s dog attacked her, the plaintiff, Celeste Swietlik suffered a severe wrist fracture that required two internal pins and three days of in-patient treatment.

In the past, Swietlik and a neighbor had filed eight complaints about the same dog. She claimed that the dog had attacked other neighborhood dogs and that, in one instance, it attempted to break through a glass door, to enter her house. She asserted that town wardens visited her home several times and assured her safety. In her complaint, she argued she justifiably relied on the official’s assurances and the town assumed a duty to protect her.

She suffers residual pain and a near-total loss of her left wrist’s functionality. She relies upon the assistance of relatives for performance of many of her everyday activities.

Special Duty Rule

A city can be liable for plaintiffs injuries under the special duty rule. This rule applies in cases where the local government fails to enforce animal control provisions and a  government officer or employee assumes a special duty to an individual .

Generally, municipalities are immune from suit similar to the state and federal governments. See H. Beau Baez III, Tort Law in the United States 62-63 (Roger Blanpain et al. eds. 2nd eds., 2014).

However, under the special duty rule a government entity may be liable to an injured person if he or she can establish a special relationship between the employees of the city and the person.

A special relationship may be established if the governmental entity:

  • Assumes a duty through promises or action to act on injured persons behalf.
  • The entity knew a failure to could lead to harm.
  • Some form of direct contact between the governmental entity officers or employees and the injured party.
  • The injured party justifiably relied on the governmental entities affirmative undertaking.

 

See Cuffy v. City of New York, 505 N.E.2d 937, 940 (1987). 

In the alternative, a special duty may be owed if the municipality was responsible for enforcing animal control provisions of the municipal code and failed to take action in response to violations.

Dog Owner’s Liability

In most cases the dog’s owner is held liable for the injuries caused by their pets. In recent years, states have enacted statutes holding animal owners strictly liable for injuries caused by domestic animals. Some statutes are specific to dogs and cats, but others include livestock.

To be held strictly liable means an absolute legal responsibility for an injury without proof of negligence or fault for the act.

Owners who know their animal could be dangerous must take proper steps to protect public from the danger. This includes restraints, supervision, or impounding the animal.

However, in this case the town official subsumed the owner’s liability by offering multiple assurances of safety, which created a special relationship that the plaintiff relied on.

This case is Celeste Swietlik v. Town of Hamburg, CA 13-00807 (2011-2368). The plaintiff was represented by Joseph D. Morath, Jr Connors & Vilardo LLP of Buffalo, NY.

 

Posted in Blog, Personal Injury

Comments are closed.

Recent Posts

Toyota Will Pay $180M to Settle Violations of the Clean-Air Act

Toyota Will Pay $180M to Settle Violations of the Clean-Air Act

January 15th, 2021

The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that the United States has[Read More...]
Boeing's Insitu Will Pay $25M to Settle a Whistleblower Complaint About Used Drone Parts

Boeing's Insitu Will Pay $25M to Settle a Whistleblower Complaint About Used Drone Parts

January 13th, 2021

Bingen, Wash.-based Insitu, a Boeing subsidiary, has agreed to pay $25 million to settle allegations that it used recycl[Read More...]
Deutsche Bank Agrees to Settle Criminal and Civil Charges for $130M

Deutsche Bank Agrees to Settle Criminal and Civil Charges for $130M

January 11th, 2021

DEUTSCHE Bank AG agreed to pay US$130 million to settle criminal and civil charges that it bribed foreign officials and manip[Read More...]
Boeing Pays $2.5B to Settle Charges Tied to the 737 MAX Crashes

Boeing Pays $2.5B to Settle Charges Tied to the 737 MAX Crashes

January 8th, 2021

Boeing has agreed to pay just over $2.5 billion to resolve a federal charge of “criminal misconduct” for how its [Read More...]
Texas Attorney General Seeks $43M in Google Antitrust Lawsuit

Texas Attorney General Seeks $43M in Google Antitrust Lawsuit

January 6th, 2021

The mass exodus of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's top staff over accusations of bribery against their former boss has le[Read More...]

Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

Attorney information and content provided on this website is provided for the benefit of members of The National Trial Lawyers and as a public service by Legal Associations Management, Inc. The website and all data are the property of Legal Associations Management, Inc. Data, including without limitation attorney information and content, on the site may not be mined, sold, or used commercially for any purpose without the explicit written consent of Legal Associations Management, Inc. This site may not be accessed by any automated program for extracting data for any use. By accessing and using the site you agree that you will not develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots, or any other means or processes (including crawlers, browser plug-ins and add-ons, or any other technology) to scrape data or otherwise copy profiles and other data. Unauthorized use or attempted unauthorized use of this system may subject you to both civil and criminal penalties.