013 Injury Lawyers Explain Dog Bite Cases

VERONICA: Welcome to the house. This is Lawyers in the House with Montlick on WSB. I’m your host, Veronica Waters.

MICHAEL: Yes, of course. It’s so much fun.

VERONICA: Michael “Never give up” Rubin, who has been with Montlick for well over 20 years now, and after attending law school in Boston, he came our way. Is that right?

MICHAEL: Yes, that’s correct.

VERONICA: All right. Michael is known as a fighter in the courtroom and a guy who’s very compassionate with his clients.

MICHAEL: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

VERONICA: And another return guest, Sarah Neeland is back with us on the show. Sarah, as you well may remember from our previous episode, loves to help people.

SARAH: Thank you so much. I don’t know about the halo, but I’ll take it.

MICHAEL: I think I see a little glow.

VERONICA: I know. You absolutely do look radiant. I did want to talk to you a little bit about what really drives you, though, because you could love to help people and do it in any number of ways.

VERONICA: Now, you came to Montlick after spending some time as a prosecutor, right?

SARAH: I did start briefly as an intern at a prosecutor’s office. It just wasn’t for me. I have now been at Montlick for almost eight years, so it’s been a while. But I just didn’t feel that I was in the right field if I was… And I have mad respect for public defenders and prosecutors out there, but it just was not for me.

VERONICA: How did you know personal injury was for you, Michael?

VERONICA: Not all heroes wear capes.

MICHAEL: That’s true. And I think that’s what really… I know with the Halo sitting next to me… it’s all about… because we talk to so many people and I mean, we don’t take… we can’t possibly take all of the cases that call, but yet it’s still rewarding to help someone or lead them in the right direction that they never would have known prior.

SARAH: Yes, absolutely. I am a dog lover. I was never allowed to have a dog growing up, and now me and all of my siblings, we all have dogs. I have two Chihuahua mix rescues, whatever. I never thought I’d be a small dog person. Stan and Ted, but they’re Chihuahuas.

VERONICA: Who’s your soul mate, your husband or your dog?

SARAH: I think it’s maybe a little debatable but at the end of the day, it’s Stan. I can’t say that. And Stan’s my dog, not my husband. He’s my soul mate. What can I say?

VERONICA: All right, so what about you, Mr. Rubin?

MICHAEL: I’ve had dogs my entire life and we have two right now, Sadie and Lucy. And they are both golden doodles.

VERONICA: Your therapy.

MICHAEL: Oh, I love them.

VERONICA: Dogs are amazing. Dogs are amazing. They give us the unconditional love. We see ourselves in them, I think, on our best days. It’s not always, as we said, sunshine and light, though. So the good things we’ve heard about dog ownership from you guys, that they can be your soulmates and that they can be your therapy.

MICHAEL: Yeah. Dog bites. It happens all the time. Dogs. It can just happen with a friend coming over to visit and the dog is in the backyard. And they come in and the dog runs up and bites them because the dog perceives something differently- a threat or is just playful even.. but actually can bite somebody.

VERONICA: They love baby talk.

MICHAEL: Yes, and thank God that dogs can’t talk actually, because they’d have a lot to say probably.

SARAH: I mean, I communicate with my dogs telepathically.

VERONICA: Telepathically?

MICHAEL: Of course.

VERONICA: They can sense our moods, right? So to your point, Sarah, you said that at least one of your dogs (I don’t know if it’s Stan, your soulmate) is a little crazy. So you’ve got a lot to think about if you’ve got guests coming over.

SARAH: Absolutely. Anytime I have a new situation, my dogs are put in a safe place.

VERONICA: I think depending on the stats you see, more dog victims are children rather than adults, depending on what stats you’re looking at. So I’m thinking this is a good opportunity for you, Michael and Sarah, to talk to dog owners about what they need to know.

VERONICA: What’s the overarching thing that you think is like, first out of the gate, first out of the dog pen?

MICHAEL: Well, I mean, first out of the… if you love your dog, you want to protect your dog, and by protecting your dog, you’re protecting everybody else. It’s just sort of a circle.

VERONICA: So what is protecting our dog look like?

MICHAEL: Well, protecting your dog looks like when somebody Sarah had mentioned if somebody were to come to your home, it’s pretty easy to put a dog into a room, and they may not like it, but until you find out whether or not they’re actually safe around the person, that’s one way to get into that.

VERONICA: But what about not in the house? You guys sure? Michael? Sarah? Dogs don’t spend most… well, maybe they do spend most of their time in the house, but we’re out walking our dogs a lot- dog parks, sidewalks. We have a little dog park in our subdivision.

SARAH: Most municipalities have leash laws, so it’s really important to keep your dog on a leash. Now, if you are in a dog park, it’s more of an assumption of the risk. So if you’re in a dog park and let’s say you bring a dog that you know to be vicious around other dogs, you shouldn’t be doing that. Don’t bring your dog if your dog has a propensity to bite other dogs or people to a dog park. You want to protect your dog.

VERONICA: Yeah, but not all dog injuries or dog cases, personal injury cases, all of the dogs have to do with a bite. Right. I guess we can get to that. What were you going to say, though?

MICHAEL: The dogs and everything? That just taking ownership and responsibility of your dog is important. And the thing is, it gets back to my first point. If something does happen, your dog could be in jeopardy.

VERONICA: If my dog does bite somebody, am I on the hook?

MICHAEL: That’s a hard thing.

SARAH: Context is everything. You have to know a little bit more. But if your dog bites someone and you didn’t have your dog on a leash in that situation, then, yeah, you could be on the hook for that.

VERONICA: It’s interesting because I know that we’ve gotten those texts from the utility folks. If you’re going to have a dog in the house, make sure you put it away. But I also think that there is something that we need to talk about with maybe certain types of dogs who get, like, a bad rap.

MICHAEL: Yeah, well, sadly, discrimination is everywhere in our life and it doesn’t stop with dogs. And like you said, the pit bulls, the Rottweilers.

VERONICA: We actually have a Doberman, too. Emerald.

MICHAEL: Magnum P.I. had the Dobermans on there. I love those dogs. But, yes, everybody has these predispositions about thinking, well, this dog is going to be violent. But the truth is that Sarah’s Chihuahua can do damage, too, and that’s not bred to fight. Whereas a dog that’s bred to fight, if the owners are caring and take care of the dog and provide it love and nurture it… I mean, I can’t speak for certain, but it’s probably going to be less likely to act out.

VERONICA: That’s right.

SARAH: Yeah, they do definitely get a bad rap. It’s so important to make sure if you have one of these aggressive type breeds and I understand I have met many of these aggressive type breeds that I absolutely adore and have showed no aggression to me.

SARAH: But if you have one of these aggressive breeds, make sure you’re telling your landlord, make sure you’re telling your homeowner’s insurance that they can write it into your policy.

VERONICA: Can you tell me about a case that sort of stuck with you over the years?

SARAH: Absolutely. My client was a realtor and she was delivering some papers – you know, this was when things were actually printed. She was delivering some papers with new homes – things like that – to her clients – or prospective clients. She was entering the home, just going on the driveway, walking on the driveway when a big dog that she had never met before completely mauled her. It really did some damage. She had exposed bone. There was a child in the home who came outside and finally called the dog, eventually got the dog off of her. But she had to have surgery. I mean, it was a really traumatic thing that left her with a huge scar on her arm. And it was absolutely awful. This situation could have easily been prevented if this big dog was not kept off leash in the front of the house. I mean, anyone can enter your property to deliver something, whether its DoorDash or even if it’s just a kid whose ball rolled onto your property and they want to go retrieve that ball. This could have easily been prevented.

VERONICA: So what did the owners of the dog do in this case? Was it really tough to do this one?

SARAH: This was really tough because it turned out that this specific dog had bitten other people before – it was a long time ago. But if I am remembering correctly, it had bitten delivery guys before. And so this dog was taken by animal control for the… I believe it’s a 10-day quarantine. And at that point the city, county, state, whoever it was, had to decide what to do with the dog. Unfortunately, in this specific case, that dog had to be put down. Someone’s childhood pet had to be put down because the owner was not responsible in taking care of their family member. To me, dogs are family members.

VERONICA: That’s heartbreaking. I remember seeing on Instagram the other day. Somebody was talking about them having to defend their dog in court because somebody was trespassing on their property and the dog had bitten them. That’s gotta be a tough thing, too.

MICHAEL: I do not think that you need to sign if a burglar is coming on and your dog… I think that’s why some people have dogs, to alert them of trespassers or things, which is fine. They could be totally friendly dogs. They just alert, bark when someone’s on the property. But no, if someone is illegally on your premises, I don’t think you would have to worry.

VERONICA: You know what? Not to get too grim, but I remember a case here in metro Atlanta where a homeowner came home and found an apparent home invader outside the house who had been in the house but had been attacked by the homeowner’s dogs and that crook -that presumed criminal- did not survive. Sarah, you said something that really makes me curious. You talked about the dog had bitten somebody before.

SARAH: It’s sort of old law. It used to be Fido gets one free bite and then after that maybe he’s determined to be not such a nice dog. Maybe he’s vicious now. But in the way things are now, there are so many code sections that are in place for cities, county, states to make sure that your dog is on a leash.

MICHAEL: Well, I mean, I just think it really comes down to did you properly protect people around your dog? If you know your dog’s vicious or if there’s a chance, like Sarah mentioned, the leash laws and things like that. But if your dog is out in the public, let’s say, you don’t want to walk too close to three kids walking by if you know there’s a chance.

VERONICA: Literally, a few months ago in our subdivision, a dog got shot at.

MICHAEL: Yeah, I did. And she was very sweet woman. She was going over to her neighbor’s house and sat on her couch and the next thing you know, a small dog jumps up and bites her in the face. Like, I think there’s a lip area, and caused significant harm to her and this dog.

VERONICA: Vaccinations are so important. You got to get your dog shots, right?

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MICHAEL: That’s right.

VERONICA: Yeah?

SARAH: Absolutely.

SARAH: Someone could be running away from a dog and they fall over.

MICHAEL: That’s right.

VERONICA: Running away? You ever had a case? Either one of you ever had a case like that?

MICHAEL: I have.

SARAH: I haven’t had a case specifically like that, no.

MICHAEL: I remember it clearly because I met with him, the victim, a couple of times. He was just simply in his own backyard and the neighbor’s dog got loose off of a chain

VERONICA: Oh, wow.

VERONICA: My God. That is terrifying.

MICHAE: And this is in his own yard.

MICHAEL: In his own yard.

VERONICA: He’s probably doing everything right. He’s not antagonizing a dog. A dog gets loose.

VERONICA: We’ve got to be responsible, too. I love how you said we got to look out for our pets. We don’t want to lose our pets, so we need to do everything right. The truth of the matter, though, is we love our dogs, even if we know them to be aggressive. Right. Okay.

MICHAEL: It’s one of the scariest …

VERONICA: They got out of the fence, and neighbors said they had done it before. Am I not responsible to be doing something different there if I’m the owner of five big dogs that neighbors have been complaining about for ages?

SARAH: You’ve got to do better. You’ve got to make sure if your dogs have gotten out of the fence before you got to find out what’s wrong with the fence. Build a better fence. Make sure you’re taking care of your dogs and not leaving them unattended in your yard. Because if they’re unattended and they get through and… they could do anything. I mean, they could attack anyone if they’re not friendly or if they’re scared.

VERONICA: If I am the victim of an attack, isn’t it important for me to document everything I know about that incident, where the dogs came from, what I looked like afterwards?

MICHAEL: Yeah, but I think the most important thing not to take away from that is the vaccinations of the dog. Find out if the dog is vaccinated. So, I mean, if you know who the owners of the dog are, you want to find out immediately. Can you show me the vaccination papers?

VERONICA: Right.

MICHAEL: And then everything from that point after that. Yes. Take pictures because you’re going to have some scarring, but…

MICHAEL: Yeah.

SARAH: Animal control.

VERONICA: Do you have to have the dog put down every time this happens?

SARAH: Absolutely not.

VERONICA: Okay.

SARAH: And I think in my situation… I say my situation, my client’s case, I think this was a dog that had done harm in the past. So that’s what made this one different. So if you don’t protect your dogs… Again, I feel like we keep saying the same things over and over… then heaven forbid your dogs can be taken away from you.

MICHAEL: It’s rare. I think it’s rare, in my experience, honestly. Between us, I think those are the only two I know of- the two dogs that have been put down. It doesn’t happen a lot because most of the time, people are good and they do care,

VERONICA: and most of the time, pets are good, too.

MICHAEL: That’s right. So we’re spending all this time talking about how bad they could be, but most of the time they’re good.

VERONICA: You got to be prepared. And I just want everybody to know that. You were talking about your case with Suzanne, and you can hear Suzanne in her own words if you go to Montlick.com and she looks fantastic. The plastic surgery she got isamazing, because I could never tell.

MICHAEL: She’s so sweet.

VERONICA: She looks like a beautiful woman, and everything. All is well that ends well.

MICHAEL: It’s so gratifying. I know Sarah can attest to this. When you get to help somebody like that and they end up I don’t want to say as good as they were prior, but they’re very satisfied.

VERONICA That’s what it’s all about. This is Lawyers in the House.

VERONICA: Welcome back to Lawyers in the House with Montlick, pooch fans and friends of pooches, and those who maybe aren’t so sure how to feel about pooches. Lots of great information in this show talking about dog ownership with Michael Rubin and Sarah Neeland.

MICHAEL: Sure. My favorite thing. So we have five closing arguments today that will hopefully help you if you’re ever faced with a situation like this or own a dog. And some of them may seem like common sense, but… Number one, keep your dog on a leash or fenced in. I mean, just do that, and that will prevent most problems. I had mentioned vaccines.

SARAH: Four, don’t approach a dog that you don’t know.

MICHAEL: You can call us at 1800-Law-Need or you can go to our website, Montlick.com, where there’s useful information in a way to also contact us to help.

VERONICA: I’m sorry for interrupting. No, I was really curious. I didn’t ask you at any time during the hour, how often do you actually have dog bite cases or cases that involve dogs on some level?

MICHAEL: That’s not as often as, obviously, a car wreck or someone injuring themselves in a store or something. But it does happen.

SARAH: There’s frequent occurrences of this.

MICHAEL: More than I would like to see. How about that?

MICHAEL: Yeah.

SARAH: Absolutely.

VERONICA: Michael Rubin, Sarah Neeland, thanks so much for joining us in the house.