What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FL
On Dec 30, 2012 a pair of dogs loose in the neighborhood viciously attacked my cat in the street in front of our house. The local police restrained the dogs (they had been tracking them because earlier that morning they had tried to attack a neighbors girl, but she was luckily pulled inside by her grandfather just in time), one using a billy club the other with a backup firearm which was not fired, and gave us the contact info to the dogs' owner to call & get the money for the vet bills. We have waited until today to call because I have been nursing my cat back to health, and until this week was unsure if he a) would even live, and b) if we were going to need to take him back again to the vet, which we already had to once.
When we called the dogs' owner, with the case # from the police officer provided, he at first didn't 'remember' that this had happened at all, and then said we waited too long, he "knew his rights", and that he wouldn't pay. I'm sure that he is incorrect about it being too long a time, because it's only been 20 days, but I need to find the law citing this.
Can anyone else help me locate this information, so I can be better informed?
Also, if this goes to small claims court, can we get more money for mental distress? It's been a horrifying couple of weeks where I've had several days & nights that I've been up hand syringe-feeding, cleaning infected wounds, and taking care of this injured animal every couple of hours. I wouldn't want more money if this guy had been upfront & taken responsibility for his dogs, but this is such a slap in the face that he's trying to weasel out of it after what our family has gone through because he let his dogs loose.
Thanks for any help, Sherrie
On Dec 30, 2012 a pair of dogs loose in the neighborhood viciously attacked my cat in the street in front of our house. The local police restrained the dogs (they had been tracking them because earlier that morning they had tried to attack a neighbors girl, but she was luckily pulled inside by her grandfather just in time), one using a billy club the other with a backup firearm which was not fired, and gave us the contact info to the dogs' owner to call & get the money for the vet bills. We have waited until today to call because I have been nursing my cat back to health, and until this week was unsure if he a) would even live, and b) if we were going to need to take him back again to the vet, which we already had to once.
When we called the dogs' owner, with the case # from the police officer provided, he at first didn't 'remember' that this had happened at all, and then said we waited too long, he "knew his rights", and that he wouldn't pay. I'm sure that he is incorrect about it being too long a time, because it's only been 20 days, but I need to find the law citing this.
Can anyone else help me locate this information, so I can be better informed?
Also, if this goes to small claims court, can we get more money for mental distress? It's been a horrifying couple of weeks where I've had several days & nights that I've been up hand syringe-feeding, cleaning infected wounds, and taking care of this injured animal every couple of hours. I wouldn't want more money if this guy had been upfront & taken responsibility for his dogs, but this is such a slap in the face that he's trying to weasel out of it after what our family has gone through because he let his dogs loose.
Thanks for any help, Sherrie