Dog Knock-Down Injury

Woman Suffers Permanent Partial Disability from Dog Knock-Down

Snow Law Firm Settlement: $500,000

Case Description 

At the time that this incident occurred, a 74-year-old woman was walking on a public wooded trail with her son. Out of nowhere, an unleashed golden retriever jumped on her, knocking her to the ground. The owner of the dog appeared several minutes later. Once the dog owner arrived, he made no attempt to audibly call off his dog and showed little concern for the woman’s wellbeing or the foreseeable threat that his dog posed to others who use these walking trails. While her son, a practicing physician, assessed his mother’s injuries, the dog owner flippantly declared to the woman’s son, “You would know if something was broken,” and then turned and walked away.

Legal Issues

Concerning the liability aspect of this matter, the woman was not committing a trespass or other tort or teasing, tormenting or abusing the golden retriever. The rambunctious dog knocked her to the ground causing her to sustain injuries. While lying on the ground crying and unable to move, the dog remained on top of her, slobbering on her face until her son was able to physically restrain the animal. As such, the dog owner is strictly liable for the damages caused by his dog.

The woman’s condition was diagnosed as a closed displaced fracture of the left femoral neck and a left distal radius fracture to her dominant hand. The following day, she was scheduled to undergo a partial hip replacement and closed reduction of the wrist fracture with application of a short arm cast. Complications arose when the woman went into atrial fibrillation at the time of surgery, which caused the surgeon to abort the procedure and transfer her to the ICU. After being stabilized overnight and into the next day, she was cleared for the surgery and remained bedridden thereafter for most of her ten day hospital stay.

When she returned home, she was totally disabled and confined to a medical bed for one month, except for appointments. She required assistance getting in and out of her bed and wheelchair, with toileting, showering, dressing and grooming. She was also unable to feed herself without difficulty, engage in any activity of daily living and felt totally helpless. In addition, her injuries kept her from rendering assistance to her husband, who suffers from kidney failure and relies upon her as his primary caregiver.

A few months later after receiving physical and occupational therapy, she began walking with assistance and the use of a cane, and gradually and painstakingly regained her strength.

However, at subsequent follow-up visits to address the left hip pain, her doctor informed her that her wrist fracture had healed in malunion, and she would likely experience some permanent deficits because her anatomy had changed. The doctor opined that she is unlikely to achieve a full resolution of her wrist pain and recovery of her range of motion from this condition and will likely continue to experience some degree of permanent pain and partial disability with the left wrist. Unfortunately, she is left hand dominant and this was a concern as well as a source of frustration for her. As a result of the injuries sustained in this incident, she was unable to care for herself and her husband without assistance, was unable to work and has endured physical pain and metal suffering.

Outcome

The dog owner was issued a citation by the Falmouth Animal Control officer for violating the town leash law, which requires dogs to be restrained from running at large, admitted in a written statement that the dog was too much for him to handle, and stated that he returned the dog to an out-of-state breeder.

The settlement awarded the woman $500,000 to compensate her as a result of the damages caused by the owner’s dog for medical expenses, Medicare liens, physical pain, traumatization and mental suffering, lost wages, and loss of spousal consortium.