Dog Days
June 26, 2009
Posted by:Cheryl Abrahams
To be successful in a personal injury claim for an injury caused by a dog, the important thing bizarrely is the dog's personality. In Whippey v Jones a jogger was knocked over by Hector, a Great Dane being walked off the leash by the Defendant in a park. Mr Whippey lost his case in the House of Lords in April because Hector was usually well behaved and had never attacked anyone before. This reminded me of one of my cases involving a chocolate Labrador called Bella who, like Hector, was unrestrained in a park and ran “full pelt” at my client knocking her over. The difference with my case was that we had evidence that Bella was very excitable and she was known to run at and jump up at people and therefore the Defendant should have kept her on the leash, as a result of which my client won her case.