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My 4yr old son got attacked by our neighbors dog

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Tear87

Junior Member
Florida:
My son who was 4 yrs old at the time got attacked by our neighbors pitbull mix... The dog came off their property and on to ours and went straight for my son the owner was inside the house but it took him awhile to even know what was going on til my boyfriend screamed i'm going to kill this dog, he was trying to get my son to safety and the dog just kept coming at my son, he wasn't even going after my boyfriend at all, the owner finally came out grabbed the dog took it inside and somehow the dog got out again and came right back for my son, the owner ran back out and finally got the dog away and safely put him somewhere where he couldn't get out again, my son had gotten bit on his right arm by his elbow and his right side by his hip, we took him to the hospital where they treated him they told us they don't suture animal bite wounds because they tend to get infected. Come to find out the dog wasn't up to date on shots so that was another worry we had to wait out plus my boyfriend had just had emergency surgery to have his appendix removed a week prior to this incident and wasn't supposed to lift anything heavier than his shoe the doctor said for 6 weeks, but had to fight off this dog that was attacking my son. I tried to get a lawyer but they told me since there's no insurance to go after since their renters not home owners they wouldn't do anything because they won't make any money from it it's basically a waist of time for them. I believe even the people who own the property have an exclusion for pets on their policy or something. So they told me to file a civil suit or small claims suit which is what i did against the owners of this dog, now were waiting for the pretrial, now when we took my son to the hospital he had medicaid which covered the visit at the time, but now my son is terrified of dogs I mean ridiculously afraid, he screams if he even hears a dog if he see's one that's it he goes crazy, even my mom's dogs he was very weary of and didn't turn his back on then and moved slowly and he's known them forever he id massively traumatized by this incident. two examples: one we were at my friend house for 4th of July she knew what happened so she put her dog in the room before we got there. we went inside after the fireworks and the dog was barking, my son covered his ears and said he wanted to go home he didn't wanna be there, I tried telling him its ok the dog isn't mean and he;s put up, well he wasn't having it. The house started filling up with smoke bc the trash can had caught fire outside and smoke was pouring into the roof so we had to get out of the house so I grabbed the kids and was calmly getting them out when she had to get the dog out as well she put him on a leash and was bringing him out and my son saw he flipped out knocked over stuff on the tables jumping up onto the back of the couch screaming for dear life, its was crazy he wouldn't let me put him down once i picked him up so we had to leave, the for Halloween we got halfway down my aunts block when my son heard a dog he tuned around ran non stop as fast as he could screaming half a block all the way to my aunts house into the room, he said he didn't want to go trick or treating, so I had to drive my car around and he made my cousin go to the doors to get his candy. My son refuses to play outside and is stuck in the house all the time because he's terrified to go outside, and its not just at my house its at his dad's or anywhere he goes. My 5yr old should be able to be like a normal 5yr old and play outside and ride a bike and all that but won't because of this incident its so sad how emotionally distressed my son is. He's been seeing a counselor about this, and he needs to go to a therapist because he can't live this way, I'm getting a letter from her stating whats going on and what he's suffering from to take with me, I'm suing for medical bills which i now realized medicaid paid for also for therapy that he now needs and his pain and suffering mental and physically, in a small claims the most you can go for is 5,000 do you think that's asking too much seeings how this incident has caused so much mental damage and physical damage to my son?
 


Banned_Princess

Senior Member
Well, if the owner doesnt have anything, what are you expecting to get?

The homeowners insurance will fight you tooth and nail (read, the homeowners lawyer). but if you feel that strongly, sue the homeowner and dog owner, see how it turnes out. wont hurt anything, and you loose nothing but the court fees.

If you cant find a lawyer to take the case, then you probably dont have that much of a case.
 

Tear87

Junior Member
Well the lawyer was the one who advised me to take it to a civil trial they won't take the case basically because they can't make what money they wanna make but I don't believe that its fair that my son has to suffer because the owner of the dog doesn't properly secure his dog, my son did nothing to the dog to make it attack him and now he won't even play outside like a normal child. He shouldn't have to fear being able to play like a child should be able to play outside he's isolated to the indoors which is not right and I shouldn't have to pay to take my son to a therapist when the whole reason he's this way is because of someone else's negligence on keeping their pet secure! He does need to see a therapist to try and get over this so he can try to have a normal childhood again. Its sad because my son use to love playing outside and being active now he refuses to go outside! I'm just basically asking for them to pay for my child's therapy and his pain and suffering because if this wouldn't have happened he wouldn't need therapy. My whole family seen how much he's changed since the incident and it just blows their minds, how traumatized he is. His counselor even said now he's suffer from a condition because of this incident I can't exactly remember the name but I'll have it all in her statement when I go to court. I just don't see how its fair that my now 5 yr old has to suffer and they think its ok what happened. It's cruel, i wish i could video tape my son when he see's or hears a dog to show the judge because its ridiculous and it breaks my heart because he never was that way before he loved dogs.
 

Banned_Princess

Senior Member
I'm sorry to hear that. The term was probably post traumatic stress disorder.


so make up a number, and sue the homeowner and pet owner. but like I said, the homeowner has a lawyer, and the pet owner has nothing.
 

cyjeff

Senior Member
you kept a good eye on your 4 yr old ....
That is an absolutely terrible thing to say.

If that dog was attacking, only getting bitten twice shows that the child WAS under supervision.

Further, it is not the fault of the parent when a loose dog comes onto their property.

If you don't know what the hell you are saying, it is far better to just be quiet.
 

Tear87

Junior Member
First of all my child WAS under supervision FYI he went out back with my boyfriend to help him throw away trash and pull out the grill to help him cook dinner (they were only outback for maybe 2 min before this happened) he loves to hang around my boyfriend and THANK GOD my boyfriend was there because if he wasn't then it would of been alot worse then what it was even though my boyfriend was there the dog still kept going after my son even with my boyfriend beating the dog with the trash can the owner of the dog was inside his house and had no idea what was going on with his dog and had no idea his dog was loose so the dog's owner wasn't supervising his dog and he never does which is the problem. I've never heard of medicaid paying for psychological treatment and they shouldn't have to anyways because its not there fault and there are very few people who accept medicaid so its hard to find one. I'm in the process of trying to find out as much information as I can about all that. It's very aggravating especially when people like you wrongsometimes are accusing me of not supervising my own child but you don't know me so to say something like that is totally wrong so think and read before you say anything next time!
 

Gail in Georgia

Senior Member
Small Claims allows you to represent yourself in court, saving the cost of an attorney. Filing for claims in this court is relatively inexpensive. You do, however, need to be reasonable in the amount that you are suing for (not physical damage since the medical costs have already been covered by the taxpayers through Medicaid).

This is why many landlords (even those who accept pets) will not accept pitbulls. Homeowners have been successfully sued for damages their tenants dogs provided on others.

Ironic that this post came up the same day someone else posted who owns 4 pits and is upset because they lost a court case regarding one barking while claiming that at least three of them are "well trained".

Gail
 

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