As often is the case, an unfortunate event has lead to some clarity of the law.
In a recent case called Wilks, the defendant owned a Great Dane dog.
The defendant asked a friend to walk the dog, and the friend complied.
Unfortunately, the dog had a seizure during the walk and fell down the embankment.
The loyal friend went down the embankment to help the dog.
The dog awoke from the seizure, panicked and bit the friend, severing his thumb.
The friend sued the dog owner for personal injuries in negligence law, claiming, amongst other things, that the owner should have addressed the seizure issue before the walk.
Enter the Dog Owner’s Liability Act (DOLA). This is an act that generally makes it easier for people to successfully sue an “owner” who is a “person in control” of the dog. The typical claimant is a visiting family member or perhaps a neighbour. DOLA treats a large group of people/entities as dog owners.
This case gave some clarity to the issues of ownership and control as the defence had argued, amongst other things, that under the broad definitions of DOLA, the dog walker become the owner and an owner could not sue himself.
That clarity will assist kennels, dog sitters, dog walkers and the like obtain clear legal advice should they run into problems.
The dog walking friend lost the Wilkins case, as the court ruled the bite was not foreseeable in negligence law.