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California "Veterinarian's Rule"... do you know about this?

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surferdude

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

There was no dog bite or injury, I just want some advice on the California "Veterinarian's Rule".
I have a German Shepherd Dog. I bring him to the Vet with a muzzle on and different Vets have had their ways of
controlling him. He is friendly but he wont just stand still while he is getting shots or other things that frighten him.

I never heard of this before, so I'm looking for opinion or advice from people who ACTUALLY KNOW ABOUT THIS.

If you have some knowledge of this law, I would appreciate your opinions.
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quincy

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

There was no dog bite or injury, I just want some advice on the California "Veterinarian's Rule".
I have a German Shepherd Dog. I bring him to the Vet with a muzzle on and different Vets have had their ways of
controlling him. He is friendly but he wont just stand still while he is getting shots or other things that frighten him.

I never heard of this before, so I'm looking for opinion or advice from people who ACTUALLY KNOW ABOUT THIS.

If you have some knowledge of this law, I would appreciate your opinions.

You copied the information in your post from an attorney's website. I have edited from your post the bulk of the material in your original post.

Without attribution and permission from a copyright holder to reproduce copyrighted content, you are infringing on the copyright holder's rights.

That said, the material on the law group's website seems to have answered your questions on assumption of risk pretty well. I don't know what exactly you need to have clarified.
 
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surferdude

Junior Member
Thanks for correcting that for me.

I never heard of this before, so I'm surprised to hear about this law.

I was looking for people who may have knowledge of cases where this was used.

What got my attention on the topic was my current Vet. She wrote up recommendations for my dog saying he is aggressive.
SHe never met me or the dog. The vet I deal with in that office said she misunderstood what he told her, and she changed it.

She told me I could get sued. It seems to me that if the Vet acknowledges that they think the dog is aggressive or dangerous and still want to work with him,
then they are providing my defense under the Veterinarians Rule, instead of preparing their case against me. ( all while nothing happened).
Of course I'm not going back there.

Sounds like they don't know about this law.

I just want to see if anyone has any experience with this.

Thanks
 

PayrollHRGuy

Senior Member
I don't think the vet was saying the vet would sue you but that with an aggressive dog you risk lawsuits in general.
 

quincy

Senior Member
Thanks for correcting that for me.

I never heard of this before, so I'm surprised to hear about this law.

I was looking for people who may have knowledge of cases where this was used.

What got my attention on the topic was my current Vet. She wrote up recommendations for my dog saying he is aggressive.
SHe never met me or the dog. The vet I deal with in that office said she misunderstood what he told her, and she changed it.

She told me I could get sued. It seems to me that if the Vet acknowledges that they think the dog is aggressive or dangerous and still want to work with him,
then they are providing my defense under the Veterinarians Rule, instead of preparing their case against me. ( all while nothing happened).
Of course I'm not going back there.

Sounds like they don't know about this law.

I just want to see if anyone has any experience with this.

Thanks
Assumption of risk is not a law but a defense to a claim.

Your veterinarian assumes the risk of being bitten by a dog due to the nature of the job. The veterinarian cannot successfully sue you over injuries sustained when working with your dog, absent a failure on your part to tell of an unusual biting risk known to you that exceeds the typical risks a veterinarian faces on a daily basis with dogs.

You potentially could be held liable under California's strict liability dog bite law if you are aware that your dog will bite under certain unusual circumstances (e.g., when his ears are touched), if you don't inform your veterinarian of this fact. Once informed, the veterinarian voluntarily and knowingly assumes the additional risk of working with a dog known to bite under these unusual circumstances.

Muzzling your dog should prevent any biting issues.

For a California Supreme Court case with a thorough discussion of assumption of risk, here is a link to Knight v. Jewett: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-supreme-court/1773828.html
https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/4th/3/296.html
 
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surferdude

Junior Member
Assumption of risk is not a law but a defense to a claim.

Your veterinarian assumes the risk of being bitten by a dog due to the nature of the job. The veterinarian cannot successfully sue you over injuries sustained when working with your dog, absent a failure on your part to tell of an unusual biting risk known to you that exceeds the typical risks a veterinarian faces on a daily basis with dogs.

You potentially could be held liable under California's strict liability dog bite law if you are aware that your dog will bite under certain unusual circumstances (e.g., when his ears are touched), if you don't inform your veterinarian of this fact. Once informed, the veterinarian voluntarily and knowingly assumes the additional risk of working with a dog known to bite under these unusual circumstances.

Muzzling your dog should prevent any biting issues.

For a California Supreme Court case with a thorough discussion of assumption of risk, here is a link to Knight v. Jewett: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-supreme-court/1773828.html

I read some of that case. It is quite long. I believe it talks about "comparative negligence" and "contributary negligence". It does show how courts are able to
have widely different views of the law. It doesn't, however, deal with the issue here. In the specific law concerning veterinarian's risk as defined in the California law.
It deals with the general concepts of negligence, but not the assignment of risk to the Vet. Sure, the case would be different if the dog owner deliberately withheld knowing that the dog would attack etc. If there was no bite history and no information was withheld, I don't think that is a good case to use as an example.

I'm looking for actual information specific to this "defense"
 

quincy

Senior Member
I read some of that case. It is quite long. I believe it talks about "comparative negligence" and "contributary negligence". It does show how courts are able to
have widely different views of the law. It doesn't, however, deal with the issue here. In the specific law concerning veterinarian's risk as defined in the California law.
It deals with the general concepts of negligence, but not the assignment of risk to the Vet. Sure, the case would be different if the dog owner deliberately withheld knowing that the dog would attack etc. If there was no bite history and no information was withheld, I don't think that is a good case to use as an example.

I'm looking for actual information specific to this "defense"
I really am not sure what you are looking for.

If you are sued because your dog bites your veterinarian, you potentially have a defense. Assumption of risk. The case I cited shows how that defense is applied.

But in law, all facts matter. You have no facts because nothing has happened.

I suggest you use your computer skills and Google "assumption of risk" if you are interested in learning more.

Good luck to you and your dog.
 

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