Dog bite, sign dispute pits neighbors against each other

South Carolina Limits Police Liability for Dog Bites

"People are devastated because he's such a good dog. They're heartbroken that this happened to him." The incident resulted in two calls to the DuPage County Sheriff's Office. The first, on the day after the fight, was logged as a neighborhood trouble/dog bite. A second was in early July for a "civil assist," when Raab reported the "dangerous dog" sign that Lee posted on his front yard, pointing at her home. The bite incident was referred to animal control and the rest was dismissed as civil matters, according to police reports. Raab's insurance company later paid Lee for the medical bills and Tasha, although initially found not dangerous by animal control, remains under investigation after Lee urged the department to take another look. Todd Faraone, administrator for DuPage County Animal Care and Control. declined to discuss the specifics of Tasha's case, citing a pending investigation.
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Dog bite leads to legal tangle over yellow Lab

Christine Caron, 49, a single mother of four, was reportedly playing tug-o-war with her three-year-old Shih Tzu, named Buster, when the dog accidentally "nicked" one of her knuckles while attempting to get a better grip on the rope. Her three other dogs came over and licked the wound. "It didn't seem like a big deal," she told the daily Ottawa Citizen. Days later she fell into a coma, and when she awoke in hospital six weeks later doctors told her they would have to amputate three of her limbs after the infection spread. The Capnocytophaga canimorsus bacteria responsible for the infection is commonly found in dog saliva, but rarely leads to infection in humans.
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If a suspect turned on an officer making an arrest, and the dog bit the suspect, then there would be liability for the dog bite, Martin, R-Pickens, said in an interview this week. When I realized that and just how one-sided existing law was, I felt we needed to change it. His measure, which Gov. Nikki Haley signed into law June 12, added an exception for certified police dogs that are on duty and responding to a lawful command or otherwise acting according to their training. The dog and its handler cant use excessive force and must follow policy. Whether a K-9 acts appropriately becomes a jury question, Martin said. South Carolina is among three dozen states with strict liability for dog bites or attacks, meaning it doesnt matter if the owner was at fault, negligent or knew the dog was vicious. Laws in 14 states and the District of Columbia already provided liability exceptions for injuries caused by dogs acting under the direction of military or police, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Other states have limited K-9 liability through precedent-setting court decisions.
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Dog bite infection costs Canadian her arm, legs

Brown, the mayor of the 5,000-resident city 125 miles south of St. Louis, concluded the dog needed to be put down, based on a police report and photos of the wound. But two dog-bite experts working for Phineas' owners say in new court filings that Phineas wasn't the culprit. They say the oval-shaped wound is too small, and the dental pattern isn't consistent with Phineas' teeth. "It's not even close," Dr. Kenneth Cohrn , a forensic dentist in Lake Lady, Fla., told the newspaper. "The dog's dentition is so http://theyarddogs.com/reports-routine-charges-seldom-in-dog-bite-cases-in-metro-area-2/ much larger than the pattern injury," he added, believing the bite was inflicted by a smaller dog. Phineas' owners hope those findings, which Brown said he had not seen, sway a Dent County judge to reconsider his opinion siding with the mayor.
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