Dog Bites: Do Dog Owners Really Know Their Pets?

     At one time or another, many parents will be asked by their child to get a dog. The child may promise to take care of and love the dog all by themselves. The most common response to such a question is, “dogs are a lot of responsibility.” At the time, children do not truly understand the real responsibility that comes with owning a dog. They realize that the dog must be fed, walked, and bathed, but that’s about it. Adults who own dogs face a much greater responsibility in the form of liability. Dog owners are, to a certain extent, liable and responsible for their dog’s actions, and that can get very expensive when things go wrong; but how wrong can things really get?

     About one-third of homeowner insurance claims involve dog bites. This amounts to payments of over one-billion dollars a year in compensation for dog bites alone. Moreover, children under the age of 12-years-old are often the ones bitten on or near the owner’s property. In addition, dog owners can be further charged for disobeying local leash laws. It is important for owners to keep this in mind when caring for and restraining their dogs.

     

     Both insurance companies and the law have a similar view when addressing dog bite cases. To put it simply, ‘every dog is entitled to one bite’. Any future bite is considered to be the fault of the owner. This can be referred to as the, ‘One Bite’ rule. If a dog owner knows that their dog has a ‘vicious propensity’, a tendency to cause harm towards others, then they are liable and must cover the damages. When a jerry is asked to consider a case where a person is hurt by someone else’s domesticated animal such as a dog or a horse, the jerry must find that the animal had ‘vicious propensities’ and that the owner of the animal knew or should have known about those vicious propensities.

     

     Although commonly referred to as the ‘One Bite Rule’, it doesn’t necessarily require a bite. Vicious propensity is a natural inclination or usual habit to act in a way that endangers people or property. The jury is asked to consider the attack itself and how severe the damages were by reason of the attack. The animal’s attitude and disposition when people approached it are also considered as well as whether it had ever previously attacked another person. Keep in mind it is not necessary to find that the animal had previously bitten or injured someone. A jerry can find that an animal had vicious propensities if the nature and frequency of its acts provided reasonable grounds to believe that it might cause an injury. For example, a dog growling when being approached by a child, bearing its teeth, and running aggressively toward pedestrians all can be evidence that the animal has vicious propensities.

     If you do get hurt by a domestic animal such as a dog or a horse, our duty as lawyers is to check into the facts of the case. This involves interviewing witnesses who may have had previous contact with the animal and thoroughly investigating the history of the dog. If you or a loved one is harmed by a domesticated animal, contact us at:

367 West Main Street                                                                        45 Market Street

Malone, NY 12953                                                                           Potsdam, New York 13676

Phone: (518) 483-1440

Toll Free: 1-800-924-3529

-Joseph Nichols

-Paul Nichols

Bystander's Recovery

     Negligence can cause injury or death for those who fall victim to unfortunate accidents. Elevator malfunctions, car accidents, and other accidents involving machinery can happen because an owner or operator of that technology did not take the proper care to ensure the safety of others. When someone is injured or killed because of this, their family members suffer greatly. This suffering is made worse when a family member is physically close to the victim during the accident and sees the damage as it is being done. In these cases, such a family member would be considered a bystander.

     Typically, bystanders who see someone become injured cannot take legal action against the cause of that injury as they were technically not involved in the accident. Usually, in terms of receiving compensation only the person injured can take legal action and receive payment for their damages. Fortunately, this is not always the case. Bystanders are able to gain compensation if they were in a zone of danger during the accident.

     Zones of danger are areas around the victim in which one becomes truly fearful for their own safety and becomes emotionally distressed upon seeing or hearing the accident takes place.

     For example, let’s say you are driving your mother to a doctor’s appointment when another vehicle hits your car. The car becomes badly damaged and you suffer a leg injury. Your mother is there with you in the car when the accident takes place and she sees that your leg has been hurt. She herself was not injured, but the experience of the accident causes her emotional distress.     

     In this example, you were the victim of the accident, the car became the zone of danger, and your mother was a bystander. Because she suffered emotional distress at seeing your injury as it took place, she could take legal accident against the negligent driver for compensation. 

     The Zone of Danger applies mainly to car accidents; however, there are other situations where it may be used as well. These include: elevator-related injuries, assaults, and house fires. Taking legal action based on the zone of danger has the following requirements

•  Due to the defendant’s negligence, an unreasonably unsafe zone was created in which one might expect bodily harm to occur.. 
• The plaintiff observed an immediate family member become injured due to this negligence.
•  The plaintiff suffered emotional distress due to fear or shock because the accident took place.

     Let’s use our car accident example again. The person who hit your vehicle with theirs owed you a duty of care to observe the road properly and they did not. This created a zone of danger where someone might expect to be hurt. Your mother, an immediate family member, is there with you to see the accident, and in seeing her son get injured, she becomes emotionally shocked and fearful for her own safety. This example meets the requirements for a zone of danger claim.

     If you have any questions about the zone of danger or have experienced it for yourself, contact Poissant, Nichols, Grue, and Vanier at:

Phone: (518) 483-1440

Toll Free: 1-800-924-3529

     

We have offices at:

45 Market Street Potsdam, NY 13676

367 West Main Street Malone, NY 13676

     Please be assured that whether you live in Malone, New York; Plattsburgh, NY; Canton, NY; Potsdam, NY; Saranac Lake, NY or anywhere else in Northern New York, we can come to your home and meet with you if it is inconvenient for you to come to our offices.  Then, you will see on some previous blogs a picture of our firm.

-Paul Nichols

             

Use Your Right-of-Way The Right Way

     When you were a child, your parents probably told you to look both ways before crossing the street. Since you’re sitting here reading this, you probably took their advice as a child, but what happened when you got older? Did you discover that crosswalks were made specifically for people who wanted to cross the street? Did you pay attention to crosswalk signals and rely on them to keep you safe on your journey? We are all busy people, and taking those extra five seconds to look to the left and right before crossing the street may seem silly when there is a flashing crossing signal telling you that it is safe to walk. That being said, remember your parents’ teachings and take those seconds into consideration. Even as an independent adult, it is still very important to, you guessed it, look both ways before stepping off the curb.

    Many people think that as pedestrians (people who cross the road instead of drive on it,) they have the right of way to get to their destination before the driver of a car makes his or her move. One might also believe that if they are hit by a car while crossing the road, the fault is entirely that of the driver. Are these statements similar to what you believe? An article written by Robert S. Kelner and Gail S. Kelner in the New York Law Journal addresses the issue of pedestrian and driver liability at intersections. In their work, they present some areas of the law that might surprise you.

    For starters, think of right-of-way in terms of priority. Basically, it designates who should go first, a pedestrian or a driver. The right-of-way doesn’t just belong to someone crossing the street. In certain situations, a driver has the right of way. To stay on the safe side, always cross at a marked crosswalk or intersection whenever possible. When you cross in those areas, you do have the right-of-way and drivers must stop or yield to let you cross. However, when someone crosses the street anywhere other than a marked or unmarked crosswalk, the right of way belongs to the driver.  This doesn’t mean you should just strut out into the road wherever there is a crosswalk. As a pedestrian, the law states that you must show due care before crossing. This includes looking for oncoming traffic before crossing the street. If you do not take the time to check your surroundings and get hit by a vehicle, the driver may be able to prove that you were negligent when walking. If they are able to do this, you may not be compensated for your injuries.

    There have been cases where drivers have turned a corner and hit someone who did not look in their direction before leaving the sidewalk. In those cases, the pedestrian was considered comparatively negligent, meaning they were also at fault for the accident.  A pedestrian who is comparatively negligent can still be awarded damages, but the damages are reduced by the percentage that the pedestrian is found to have contributed to the incident.  To avoid such problems, look to both your left and right before crossing the street. It does not satisfy your duty of care to simply glance in one direction and walk forward.

    It is important to keep in mind that not all crosswalks are marked. You also have the right-of-way at the corner of a four-way intersection where the roads run perpendicular to each other in such a way that the corners of the sidewalks like up with one another. Even thin, you still have to look both ways before moving forward.

     You are not required to look behind you when crossing the road as this is considered to be unsafe. It is assumed that if a vehicle is approaching from behind you, the driver should see you before making a turn or driving across an intersection. To put it plainly, you have your job to secure your own safety by looking to the left and right before crossing, and at the same time a driver must fulfill their obligations as well. These include: keeping their vehicle in appropriate condition, maintain a proper lookout, and be aware of people and objects within their field of view. In this way, the responsibility of safety is shared between the two parties. If one fails to show due care, severe injury and loss can occur.

    If you have any questions concerning pedestrian safety and compensation, or if you or a loved one have suffered a related injury, please contact Poissant, Nichols, Grue, and Vanier at (518) 413-1440.  We have offices in Potsdam, New York and Malone, New York.