How to get sued for $1.5 million for personal injury while taking a shower.

[jberryhill]

64. Doesn't matter

You are definitely not an attorney. Is this a take home torts exam?

The dog was loose, scared him, he ran, he fell down, and claims to be injured. It doesn't matter if the dog was "playing" - a lot of people are injured by playing dogs. Yes, I own a dog, and perfectly understand that she won't do a thing to anyone - unless they run away from her. It's an instinctive behavior, and she and the neighborhood kids have great fun with it.

And yes, I assume the claimed injuries come from him falling, and not from a dog bite. It's not relevant.

Let's run this with "no dog" and say that he merely tripped on the porch steps because he was clumsy. Even if we take the dog out of the picture entirely, is you friend liable for injuries from someone tripping on their property? Yes. I mean, duh, "slip and fall" accidents is the primary reason why people HAVE insurance in the first place.

But here we have a situation where someone was scared and ran from an unrestrained dog, fell down, and is claiming injury. There has to be something really odd which prevents an attorney from immediately grasping that the homeowner will be liable for provable injury from that sequence of facts.