QUESTION

Who is responsible dog owner or grooming salon/store when an employee gets bit and comes close to death from dog bite?

Asked on Oct 23rd, 2013 on Civil Litigation - Connecticut
More details to this question:
In CT an employee of a pet store working in the grooming salon as a bather gets bit. The salon gives the dog water only when kenneled. This allows employees to work on other dogs as well. The dogs are not feed, exercised, or walked for potty breaks, the dogs are not allowed to leave the salon and never spend the night. Who is responsible when the dog bites? The owner or the pet store? Thank you for your time
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1 ANSWER

Appellate Practice Attorney serving New York, NY
Either or both could be liable for some or all of the damages if they are deemed to have been negligent, and that negligence is deemed to be a proximate cause of the damages (although the employee may not be able to sue the store owner under workers' compensation rules; the pet owner may be able to get contribution from the store owner if he/she has to pay the employee any damages.  For example, in the following example, the pet owner, store owner, and employee could each be held to be 1/3 responsible for the damages (but a jury could find them responsible in different proportions).  Pet owner fails to apprise store owner that the pet has a history of sometimes biting.  Store owner fails to take adequate safety precautions, such as shorter leashes, which, if employed, would have prevented the incident.  Employee's actions also contribute to the incident because he was teasing the dog by holding out food and then snatching it away.  In such a case, assuming that the employee suffered $21,000 worth of damages, if he is held comparatively negligent for 1/3 of the damages, he would recover $14,000 from the pet owner (not from the store owner because of workers' compensation rules), out of which would come his attorneys' fee (assuming the attorney was working on contingency) and all expenses (filing fees, court reporter costs, etc.)  In turn, the pet owner would recover $7,000 from the store owner.
Answered on Oct 23rd, 2013 at 5:07 PM

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