Lisa W. v. Doe Defendant, Fresno County Superior Court
Oct 12, 2014OUTCOME: Settlement: Dog Bite $500,000.00
Attack That Resulted In Surgery - Dog Bite $500,000.00 Client was offered a German Sheppard, Spurs with no disclosure of the dog’s prior aggressive tendencies toward other dogs. The owner’s agent bro ... ught Spurs to the client’s home where it met the client’s dog, Bandit. Within two minutes of being delivered to client’s home, Spurs violently and viciously attacked and repeatedly bit the client and her dog, Bandit. The defendants denied liability and stated they were not responsible through their insurance company. The defendants claimed that ownership transferred to the client upon delivery of the dog to her home under Menches v. Inglewood Humane Society (1945) 51 Cal.App.2d 41. This would have relieved the defendants from being strictly liability and having a legal obligation under Civil Code section 3342(a) to pay damages to the client. Defendants brought a Motion for Summary Judgment to have the case dismissed by the court as having no legal merit. If the Motion for Summary Judgment would have been granted, our client would have lost her entire case. Our firm countered that argument by establishing that the client had made a conditional acceptance of the German Sheppard, Spurs that conditioned transfer of ownership on Spurs being able to share the backyard with the client’s dog, Bandit. The court ruled on the case and held that the there was no transfer of ownership and that our client’s case had significant merit. The client prevailed after extensive and relentless written opposition to the Motion for Summary Judgment after oral argument in court by Mr. Mazzela. Within two weeks of our firm winning the opposition to Motion for Summary Judgment, the insurance company accepted the client’s policy limit demand served by our firm for $500,000.00.
