Renny vs. Jenny: B.C. woman takes friend to court for $100K over dog bite
"This is a difficult case of a friendship divided," a British Columbia judge wrote of a lawsuit between owners of dogs with rhyming names.
Justice Francesca Marzari was asked to weigh both sides of a case that pitted two former friends against each other, with one trying to get nearly $100,000 out of the other.
According to Marzari's decision, which was posted online earlier this week, the women who used to work together at a B.C. care home agreed on some things.
The incident happened in February 2018. The defendant's dog, Renny, bit the plaintiff's dog, Jenny.
The plaintiff tried to intervene, and Renny bit her hand.
No one disputes that the plaintiff's right hand was injured enough that she needed a surgery, and had a pin put in her hand to straighten a broken bone.
Jenny's owner also needed stitches and antibiotics, and was unable to work for months as her injuries healed.
In the years since, Jenny's owner has mostly recovered, but her hand still cramps or feels sore at times, and according to the judgement, she's more likely to develop arthritis in her hand because of the injury caused by Renny's teeth.
The plaintiff took Renny's owner to court over the injury, claiming tens of thousands of dollars for general damages, special damages and past wage loss.
How she arrived at an amount of about $100,000 is unclear from the judgment. The judge said by her count, at most the plaintiff would be entitled to about $26,460 – and even then, she'd have likely cut that in half.
But first Marzari had to figure out if the woman was actually entitled to anything.
The justice looked at factors including Renny's history.
Renny had attacked a small dog at a campground once, when she broke loose from her leash, and in another incident, she attacked and killed a parakeet after knocking it out of its cage. Renny's owner knew that the dog could be reactive with other dogs at times, so she kept Renny on a leash and put a muzzle on her in some situations.
But, according to the judge, there was no evidence Renny had a propensity to injure humans, "and, in fact, reacts with joy and positivity.” Even the plaintiff didn't suggest Renny had been aggressive to people.
Since the bite, Renny hasn't had any incidents of aggression to humans or animals, which the judge attributed to her owner's work to keep her muzzled and leashed in situations with new or strange dogs.
The defendant, for her part, argued that if she's liable, the plaintiff is partly to blame for letting Jenny out of the house without warning the other owner, and for putting her hands between the fighting dogs.
Text messages back up the first part of the argument – Jenny's owner said she would keep the dog inside. That's why Renny wasn't wearing her muzzle when she was let out to play.
But then Jenny's owner opened the door, with Jenny standing in the doorway, and Renny ran towards the dog and bit her ear.
When Jenny's owner bent down to get Renny's mouth off the dog's ear, it was then that Renny latched on to the plaintiff's hand, both parties say.
The defendant drove the plaintiff to a local clinic for help, and so the treatment began.
The judge outlined the crumbling of the women's friendship, saying it wasn't immediate. Both were sympathetic to each other, but things appear to have deteriorated when the plaintiff spoke to animal control.
The defendant said she felt betrayed by her friend "who was like a sister to her," even though the animal control officer didn't designate Renny as dangerous, because the bite happened when the plaintiff tried to separate the dogs.
Renny may have been considered dangerous if, for example, she'd randomly bitten the plaintiff without warning, but the officer told the court that this case didn't suggest any unprovoked aggression. The plaintiff pointed out that the officer didn't know Renny's history.
Ultimately, the case that destroyed a years-long friendship was dismissed, with Marzari deciding Renny's owner took reasonable care to prevent such incidents.
The justice said evidence in the case wasn't enough to establish scienter, a legal term meaning intent or knowledge of wrongdoing prior to an act – in this case knowledge that the dog could be dangerous to humans, not just animals and birds.
She also sided with the defendant on the allegation of negligence, and the case was dismissed.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.