TOV Injury and Safety Blog

Injury victims "0 for 3" on the day: Summary judgment granted to insurers in all cases, including dob bite.

Brian Stacey, a minor, suffered serious scarring when he was bit by a neighbor's pit bull.  He sued the Colonial Acres Associates, LLC, and Newbury Management Co., the operators of the trailer park where he lived, alleging that they bore some of the responsibility for his injury.  Through his parents, Stacey argued that the Defendants had violated their own rules by allowing the pit bull to live in the trailer park for years, despite the prohibition of several breeds of dogs known to have a propensity for biting or violent behavior.

Uninvited visitor is a trespasser; loose dogs are not "strays" until they leave owner's property

Dale Tieman returned to a home where he had previously bought straw, intending to buy more.  Unbeknownst to him, the property had been sold to Joseph Grinsteiner.  Grinsteiner wasn't home, but his dogs were.  Recalling the axiom that "barking dogs don't bite," Tieman exited his car intending to knock on the back door of Grinsteiner's home.  He soon learned that many axioms or merely folk tales.  He sued Grinsteiner for damages.

Lawyer who includes police dog as a named defendant must pay costs

When Inez Starks' lawyer sued the officers who arrested her, and the dog they used to assist in the arrest, the Court properly taxed her for making a frivolous claim, according to the Court of Appeals.  Apparently the attorney--who will probably be the person paying the costs--admitted to the Court that he named the dog as a publicity stunt.

Landlord can't be held responsible for tenant's loose dogs

Jimmy Johnson was injured in an attack by two dogs who escaped from a nearby property.  He sued the owner of the dogs and also sued the landlord of the premises where the dogs were kept (probably in part because the tenants probably did not have any insurance to cover their liability and the property owner did). 

A dog is an open and obvious danger that relieves the landlord of responsibility?

 Leroy Allen sued A & M Properties after he was bit by a dog with known vicious propensities on the front porch of a duplex owned by A & M.  Apparently A & M had purchased insurance coverage for premises liability but not for dog ownership, as Allen's attorneys took a default judgment against the dog owner, and dismissed all but his "safe premises" claim.  In a fairly confusing opinion, the Court held that the dog  was an "open and obvious" danger, even though it broke through a tenant's apartment window to attack Allen in a common area.

Judge Saad strikes again: 16 year-old bitten by a pit bull gets no compensation for pain

Judge Saad, a Robert Bork wannabe on Michigan's Court of Appeals, has consistently proferred interpretations of the law that favor insurers and take rights from citizens and consumers.  In his most recent decision, he joined with another judge to hold that a young girl who was bitten by a pit bull in an unprovoked attack could not identify for the jury the breed of dog that bit her, and could not appeal the jury's decision that she should recieve no compensation for pain and suffering or mental anguish.