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Suing Animal Control Agencies or Municipalities After a Serious Dog Attack

Dogsbite.org has gathered instances in which victims have sued city or county Animal Care and Control Departments or municipalities after a serious or fatal dog attack. Some of these cases are "in process" with results unknown. We hope that by publishing this list, future dog attack victims and their attorneys might reference this list and track court cases via lawsuit databases and learn what finally resulted.

Victim: Zachary Rasmussen
Sued: Santa Monica, CA
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Lawyer: Brian Nelson
Status: Reached Settlement Agreement
In October 2010, Zachary Rasmussen was attacked by a pit bull in Memorial Park after the dog pushed through an unsecure gate at the park's dog run. At the time of the attack, the victim was in the ball field area of the park with his parents. According to court documents, Zachary was "viciously attacked in the head, neck, shoulders and back," which also resulted in brain damage. The family's attorney filed a negligence suit against the owner of the dog, Jerome Wright, and the city in March 2011. Deputy City Attorney Lance Gems said if the case had gone to trial and the plaintiff won, a jury could have awarded the victim upwards of $1 million dollars.

Victim: Gavin, 6-Years Old
Sued: Kendall County, IL
Location: Yorkville, IL
Law Firm: Unknown
Status: In Process
In February 2012, Shannen Flores filed a lawsuit against Kendall County, saying the staff was negligent in controlling Moose -- a bullmastiff that bit her 6-year old son in the face on July 3 at the Animal Control facility in Yorkville. Prior to this, Moose bit mail carrier Patrick Sondgeroth on May 31, which is how the dog ended up at the facility. Shortly after the attack on Gavin, former Animal Control Warden Christine Johnson told county officials Moose had been euthanized when in fact he had been adopted to a family in LaSalle County. Johnson resigned prior to being fired. Within a month Moose bit again and was finally put down.

Victims: Anna Cieslewicz and Mary Murphy-Smith
Sued: Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Location: Cook County, IL
Law Firm: Clifford Law Offices
Status: In Process
In January 2003, a pair of "stray" pit bulls attacked two women joggers in the Dan Ryan Woods forest preserve killing one and seriously injuring another. Anna Cieslewicz, 48, was unable to outdistance the pit bulls that savagely killed her. Mary Murphy-Smith, 46, was also badly attacked, but survived. Murphy-Smith subsequently filed a civil lawsuit against Forest Preserve District of Cook County alleging the agency "knowingly permitted" the offending dogs "to remain" in the preserve. Cieslewicz's husband later joined the lawsuit. The Appellate Court of Illinois for the First District is expected to rule on the case in 2012.

Victim: James Bright, Jr.
Sued: City of Delaware
Location: Delaware, OH
Law Firm: Kimberly Doucher
Status: In Process
In November 2011, the attorney for James Bright, Jr. filed a civil lawsuit against the City of Delaware after he was terribly mauled by four Cane Corsos last year. The lawsuit claimed the city knew three years prior to Bright's attack about the dangers these dogs posed. The dogs' owner, Virgil Mitchell III, had racked up a considerable number of violations pertaining to his dogs from Delaware Police and the Delaware County Dog Warden prior to Bright's attack. In criminal proceedings, Mitchell pleaded not guilty to a fourth-degree felony, an unanticipated charge, and four misdemeanor charges in connection to the brutal dog attack.

Victim: Christina Casey
Sued: City of Moreno Valley
Location: Moreno Valley, CA
Law Firm: Unknown
Status: In Process
In September 2011, Bill Casey filed a lawsuit against the City of Moreno Valley. Last year, his sister, 53-year old Christina Casey, was mauled to death by her neighbor's two pit bull-mixes. She was discovered dead in her yard after the dogs dug a hole under a fence separating the two properties. The pit bulls tore out part of her throat. Prior to the fatal dog attack, Christina had reported the dogs to animal control after they had tunneled into her yard. The victim was in the in process of moving partly due to the neighbor's aggressive dogs. After her death, Bill told reporters, "In two more days, she'd have been completely out of there."

Victim: Krystal Cooney
Sued: Parlier Unified School District, City of Parlier and Fresno County
Location: Parlier, CA
Attorney: Kenneth M. Phillips
Status: Victim Victory
In August 2011, Parlier Unified School District approved a settlement offer to pay Krystal Cooney $190,000 after being mauled by a pack of wild dogs three years ago. Attorney Ken Phillips argued that Parlier Unified was negligent for allowing the dogs to live on its property. In a June 21 court hearing, Phillips said that school maintenance workers "built what amounts to a hotel for the dogs." He also interviewed a high school teacher who notified school officials about the dogs and "warned them that this was dangerous." School officials ignored the warning. Cooney also sued the City of Parlier and Fresno County and settled for $60,000.

Victim: Sue Gorman
Sued: Pierce County
Location: Gig Harbor, WA
Law Firm: Attorneys Michael McKasy and Shelly Speir
Status: Victim Victory
In August 2011, a Pierce County jury awarded Sue Gorman $2.2 million in damages after being mauled by two pit bulls that entered her home through an open sliding glass door on August 21, 2007. Jurors assigned 42% of the blame to Pierce County, $924,000. Gorman filed two complaints about the dogs leading up to the attack. In total, the county had 14 complaints from residents about the pit bulls owned by Shellie Wilson and her son, Zachary Martin, who together were assigned 52% of the blame by the jury. Prior to the civil case, both owners were charged with one count of “owning a dog that attacks” and pleaded guilty.

Victim: Jennifer Lowe
Sued: Knox County
Location: Knoxville, TN
Attorney: Kenneth M. Phillips
Status: Victim Victory
In February 2009, it was reported that the family of Jennifer Lowe received an undisclosed settlement from Knox County. In November 2007, Jennifer Lowe was mauled to death by two pit bulls owned by Charles Smallwood. Attorney Kenneth Phillips successfully obtained a settlement against Knox County since officials knew the dogs that killed Jennifer were dangerous. According to WATE.com, in the year leading up to the deadly attack, Knox County Animal Control had deemed both pit bulls "dangerous" and had visited Smallwood's home five times, one of these visits being just three days before Jennifer's death.

Victim: Jennifer Scott
Sued: Multnomah County
Location: Portland, OR
Law Firm: Baumgartner, Nelson & Price
Status: Unknown
In December 2008, it was reported that Jennifer Scott filed suit against the owner of the attacking dog, the estate of the owner's father and Multnomah County. The offending 98-pound dog, Buddha, had previously sent two other people to the hospital in attacks in 2005 and 2006. The lawsuit alleges that Multnomah County failed to follow its own dangerous-dog rules in dealing with Buddha. County code has various categories for dangerous pets. It defines as "level 4" behavior any at-large dog that "aggressively bites any person." An attack at that level would trigger restrictions on how and where the animal could be kept."

Victim: Henry Piotrowsky
Sued: New York City
Location: Staten Island, NY
Law Firm: West Brighton law firm of Russo, Scamardella & D'Amato
Status: Victim Loss
In August 2008, lawyers for Henry Piotrowsky, who was mauled July 1st by two pit bulls, filed a notice of claim against the City of New York seeking $7 million in damages. Piotrowski was severely injured in the attack, which caused the amputation of his left leg, and injury to his face, neck, arms and right leg. Attorney Michael Gervasi filed the paperwork, which is a prelude to a formal lawsuit, alleging the city failed to take appropriate measures to control the vicious dogs, despite numerous complaints from other neighbors and 311 and 911 calls about the animals. On August 17, 2008, Henry Piotrowski succumbed to his injuries and died.

Victim: Paula Ybarra
Sued: Hennepin County Animal Care and Control
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Law Firm: Unknown
Status: Victim Victory
In June 2008, it was reported that Paula Ybarra, 38, filed a lawsuit against Thomas Mohrbacker, the owner of the dogs that attacked her. The suit also claimed the city's Animal Care and Control department failed to protect her from the dogs it had declared "dangerous." Paula is seeking more than $50,000 for herself and two daughters who witnessed the attack. Due to the attack, Ybarra has incurred medical expenses of more than $225,000. More treatment is expected for lost breathing capacity, difficulty swallowing and coughing, partial loss of speaking ability and permanent restriction from activities that might re-injure her neck.

Victim: Makailah Barnett
Sued: New York City
Location: New York, NY
Attorney: Thomas Minotti
Status: Victim Victory
In December 2007, it was reported that Shannon Smith, the mother of little Makailah Barnett, successfully sued the City of New York after her daughter was mauled by a pit bull. According to the complaint filed, Smith had received the offending dog from a police officer the day before the mauling. The unusual circumstances behind Officer Sean Smith's decision to give the dog to Ms. Smith, a stranger, were enough to make the city liable for the attack, a Bronx jury decided. A lawyer for Ms. Smith, Thomas Minotti, said, "The officer was supposed to take it down to animal control, but he didn't do that. He wasn't allowed to give the dog away."

Victim: Lev Liberman
Sued: New York City
Location: New York, NY
Attorney: David E. Waterbury of Elliot Ifraimoff & Associates, P.C.
Status: Victim Victory
In September 2007, it was reported that Lev Liberman was awarded $3 million dollars by the City of New York after enduring a horrific dog mauling in December 2001. Initially, the Queens Supreme Court justices dismissed the case, as well the case of Marlene Fils-Aime who was seriously injured in the same attack. In 2006, a ruling by the N.Y. Appellate Division reversed the Queens court ruling. The attack left Liberman totally blind in both eyes, deaf in one ear and unable to care for himself. Liberman was severely disfigured, including the loss of both outer ears and most of his scalp and hair. Amazingly, he survived.

Victim: Nancy Matthews
Sued: North County Animal Services
Location: Valley Center, CA
Attorney: Tomas Shpall
Status: Unknown
In November 2006, Nancy Matthews was mauled by two loose boxers near her home that had bitten two other people. As her two sons watched, Matthews fought the dogs, which threw her to the ground and tore at her scalp, arms, legs and back and chewed off muscles. She ended up with blood transfusions, scars and indentations in her arm and leg where she had lost tissue. The civil suit, first filed at the Vista courthouse in November, alleges that county animal officials knew the dogs had bitten two people previously and didn't take appropriate action to prevent them from attacking again. The suit was amended and refiled in February 2008.

Victim: Dorothy Sullivan
Sued: Spotsylvania County Animal Control
Location: Spotsylvania County, VA
Attorney: Thomas E. Albro
Status: Victim Loss
On March 8, 2005, Dorothy Sullivan was brutally attacked and killed by loose pit bulls. The Sullivan family sued Spotsylvania County Animal Control for negligence saying the agency knew the dogs ran loose and had attacked neighbors and killed pets and that the owner of the dogs, Deanna Large (who was convicted of manslaughter) was operating an unlicensed kennel. Circuit Court Judge, George Tidy, ruled that the Sullivan family must drop the County and the Animal Control Department as defendants, but the family could sue the county employees named in the suit. In March 2009, a jury ruled in favor of the county employees.

Victim: Emma-Leigh Chambers-Allen
Sued: Valencia County
Location: Los Chavez, NM
Law Firm: Unknown
Status: Unknown
On June 6, 2004, Emma-Leigh Chambers-Allen was severely mauled by her neighbor's pit bull. The pit bull broke Emma's jaw in three places, broke her nose, tore out teeth and severed part of her tongue. Little Emma received over 200 stitches to her face and lost 66% of her blood in the attack. Six months following the attack, Emma's parents filed a lawsuit against the owner of the pit bull and Valencia County. Prior to the attack, numerous complaints had been made to the Valencia County Animal Control Department concerning the animal's vicious behavior -- including that "someday, Shelton's pit bull would attack a child."

Victim: Asencion Cervantez
Sued: City of Los Angeles
Location: Sylmar, CA
Attorney: Jeffrey E. Zinder
Status: Unknown
In February 2000, Asencion Cervantez was brutally attacked by two pit bulls while unloading supplies from his truck. He suffered extensive bite injuries, including part of his scalp torn off. The owners of the dogs, Pamela Joyce Curry and Michael Tatum, claimed they bought the dogs from a fighting dog breeder and that they had "given the dogs away" to two unknown passerby the night before the mauling. Cervantez's attorney filed a civil claim against Curry, Tatum and their landlord in April 2000. In March 2001, Zinder sued the City of Los Angeles for releasing the dogs back to their owners after earlier attacks on neighborhood animals.

Victim: Betty Lou Stidham
Sued: Memphis City
Location: Memphis City, TN
Law Firm: Bourland, Heflin, Alvarez, Minor & Matthews, PLC
Status: Victim Victory
In June 1990, 57-year old Betty Lou Stidham emerged from her Memphis home to retrieve her mail, but instead met the deadly fate of two pit bulls owned by her neighbor, Memphis police officer Edwin Hill. Six months earlier, the dogs had ripped the leg off of Stidham's pet pug. Prior to the attack on her pug, the pit bulls had attacked Edwin Hill's own wheelchair-bound mother sending her to the hospital. Hill was ultimately convicted of criminally negligent homicide and served five months of a two-year sentence. On July 21, 1998, the Supreme Court of Tennessee awarded damages to the Stidham family against the City of Memphis.

Related articles:
06/09/10: Pit Bull in Recent Mauling Adopted from the Humane Society of Indianapolis
08/31/08: Dog Attack Victim Lawsuits and Settlement Awards

Labels: Lawsuits and Awards, Suing Animal Control, Suing Municipalities