A professional dog walker who was knocked over by a dog whilst out walking has had her
personal injury claim for £160,000 turned down.
The incident occurred when the woman was out walking her golden retriever and a black labrador called Ebony ran into her, knocking her down.
The woman ended up needing surgery on her knee and went on to sue the owner of the black Labrador, Neil Brady. The judge initially ruled against her stating it had been 'a pure
accident'.
The dogwalker, a former college lecturer aged 56, then tried to appeal her case with no luck as the appeal judges declared that they felt labradors were, ‘unlikely to cause serious injury or death.’
Judge Lord Malcolm at the Court of Session warned that courts should not allow such a contribution to "the creation of a society bent in litigation"
Purely accidental
He went on to say: "In my view, what occurred was an unfortunate and unforeseen collision - it was a pure accident. If the law was to consider a labrador running in a field as something which is dangerous in itself, this would come close to making dog owners insurers in respect of all injuries and damage caused by their animals."
This should be great news for companies offering dog insurance as well as dog owners who might have been worried about their
liability in such areas.
Most dog insurance includes some form of third party liability insurance to cover cases where your dog might cause harm or injury to someone else or their possessions, although it is recommended you check the terms and conditions to see what is covered or not.
The Animal Act
The appeal lodged by the woman was based upon the 1987 Animals (Scotland) Act, which dictates that a person is liable for damage or injury if that animal is of a species generally likely to cause damage to property, to kill or to seriously injure.
Sir David Edwards QC, one of the three judges assessing her appeal, said the case came down to the question: "Are fully grown black labradors, by virtue of their physical attributes or habits, likely, unless controlled or restrained, to injure severely or kill persons or animals?"
Ebony, the black labrador in question, was found to weigh 25kg making her a fairly large dog with a boisterous personality. The dog was also described as excitable but not aggressive, though she did not always listen to her owner when he commended her to return to him.
In the end, the appeal ruled in the black labrador owner’s favor, though we can be sure that Brady had a number of sleepless nights as a result of the lengthy and stressful process.
Some would argue that we shouldn’t live in a society where lawsuits are filed for every little thing, so dog owners can relax in the knowledge that if their dog knocks someone else over accidentally whilst out walking, then a personal injury case should not be awaiting them. Others would argue that if you buy a 'boisterous' pet, you should be prepared to take responsibility for the resulting events.
