Beware Of The Dog

The young nurse was viciously attacked and bitten by a pair of unneutered, unspayed and unvaccinated pit bull mixes owned by her next-door neighbor in Millersville. The dogs had parented a recent litter, and the mother was particularly vicious, having attacked a small child in the same neighborhood two weeks earlier. The dogs escaped through a hole in the common fence and mauled the nurse, who was tending to her vegetable garden in the middle of a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The nurse incurred more than $5,000 in medical care, which included a round of painful rabies vaccinations. The pit mixes had not had their rabies shots. She missed a week from work, and she will likely miss another week in connection with the future surgery that would be required to repair her scarred right leg. She suffers recurring nightmares of the attack.

Unfortunately, this attack was all too common. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 800,000 Americans seek medical attention for dog bites each year. Half the victims are children. Of those injured, 386,000 require treatment in emergency rooms, and an average of 16 die annually. The rate of dog-bite-related injuries is highest for children ages 5 to 9 years. Almost two-thirds of injuries among children ages 4 years and younger are to the head or neck region.

Fortunately, our civil justice system allows injured victims to hold responsible parties accountable. Prior to 2014, Maryland followed the “one-bite rule,” which required that the injured party be able to prove that the animal owner knew or should have known that her dog was dangerous. In other words, if the animal had bitten someone previously, then the owner was on notice that the dog was a potential danger to others.

Additionally, violation of a statute is evidence of negligence if the violation was approximate cause of the harm. Many localities have leash laws. Failure to properly confine a dog, as was the case with the injured nurse, is evidence of negligence.

In 2012, the Maryland Court of Appeals addressed this issue in the case of Tracey versus Solesky. Eight-year-old Dominic Solesky was mauled by a pit bull named Clifford. Dominic sustained life-threatening injuries and underwent five hours of surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, including a procedure to repair his femoral artery. He spent 17 days in the hospital, during which time he underwent additional surgeries. He then spent a year in rehabilitation.

The Maryland Court of Appeals, the state’s highest appellate court, determined that harboring a pit bull was “an inherently dangerous activity,” for which a landlord could be held strictly liable if the landlord knew or should have known of the pit bull’s presence.

Tracey versus Solesky garnered much in the way of publicity, and it remained the law of Maryland until April 7, 2014. The state legislature took up the issue during the 2013 and 2014 sessions. Effective April 8, 2014, Maryland imposes limited strict liability on dog owners:

• There is strictly liability for the damages caused by an attacking dog, unless the owner is able to prove that he or she neither knew nor should have known of the dog’s “vicious and dangerous propensities.” This is a change from the old “one-bite rule,” which placed the burden of proof on the injured party;
• There is also strict liability for damages caused by a dog “running at large, unless the injury … was caused” to a person who was trespassing, committing a crime or “teasing, tormenting, abusing or provoking the dog”
• For actions against person other than the dog’s owner, e.g. a landlord, the injured party must prove that the dog had previously acted viciously, “without regard to the breed.”

If you or a family member is injured in a dog attack, you will have many questions. You should consult with an attorney who is familiar with this area of the law, who will assist you in making informed decisions and who will make sure that you receive the compensation to which you are entitled.

If you need further information regarding this subject, please feel free to contact the Law Office of David V. Diggs, LLC, located at 8684 Veterans Highway, Suite 204, in Millersville, by calling 410-244-1189 or emailing david@diggslaw.com.