“bite”

It escalates

I didn’t hear back from her at all. Two months pass by. I thought the incident was done with. Then the letter came. She was suing me. Umm…what?! Why not just ask me to pay for your med bills? I would have. Even though what you showed me was a scratch. I’m not an asshole. If you feel like you need to go get a tetanus and get checked I’ll back you the money. Just ask.

But no, she never asked. She just hired a lawyer and that was it. Should I have offered? I guess? I don’t know….I was never in this position. I gave her my info. If she needed the coverage on her medical bills, she just needed to ask me. But she didn’t and I didn’t blatantly offer. 

Then, her daughter basically called me a POS in our community Facebook page. She didn’t say my name in her post, but she warned everyone in our community about my “vicious” dog. That people need to be on guard, and she questioned my statement I made to her mom that my dog has never bit anyone. Listen, my dog is no angel. I don’t trust her around other dogs, but she is a lover of humans. She snuggles like she’s one. She has never hurt a human.

The kind of people that sue

I’m honestly in awe that someone would sue me for 15K over the incident that occurred. That’s not a typo. She sued me for $15,000. When her medical bills were only $400.

What in the actual fuck?!?!

I really tried to stay positive during this whole ordeal and not judge. I tried to remain light-hearted, but that shit pissed me off. It didn’t help that all of this came to a head as the pandemic was causing so much uncertainty in the world. Maybe that’s partly why she sued? Maybe her finances were being hit because of how the world turned upside down? I don’t know. All I know is I would have happily paid her medical bills for the “harm” that my dog caused if she would have told me she needed help. I don’t see why she felt compelled to hire a lawyer.

Because she hired a lawyer, and was asking for $15K, I asked for counsel. My lawyer told me to turn it into my homeowner’s. “They will handle it”, he said. I felt relieved.

That relief didn’t last long.

Homeowner’s sucks

My homeowner’s conveniently does not cover pet bites. So, the woman suing me could only get money from my liability coverage. Or something like that. This whole part of adulting (legal stuff) is blah blah blah to me. Point is, she wouldn’t get the $15K from my insurance. They would only cover her medical expenses. If she wanted more, we would need to go to court, and I would be paying out of pocket if found guilty. 

But, after receiving the payment from my insurance, there was radio silence. Then, eons later, the claim was closed. This woman hired lawyers to get $400. Something that I would have given her if she would only have contacted me instead of Murphy & Murphy.

So stupid.

For a small minute, I felt vindicated that this lady only got that amount of money. Serves you right, asshole!

But then, another letter came in the mail. A letter from my homeowner’s telling me they are no longer covering us because of the dog bite. 

Fuck my actual life.

If you’ve ever been dropped by your insurance, or been unable to receive coverage, you know what I went through. It’s hard AF to get homeowner’s if you have a dog bite claim. No one wants to cover you…unless you get rid of the dog.

I literally cannot do that. I would die of guilt.

After months of trying to find coverage, I was finally able to get a policy, for over double what I paid before and one that does not have ANY liability. That means that my insurance will not cover a bite next time and it will not cover any medical claims if someone gets injured on my property. This makes no logical sense to me. Why am I paying MORE when you aren’t even covering the situation that causes me to be high risk? So. damn. annoying. And, you only paid a $400 claim! I have paid in at least 8x as much as that since being covered under that policy. Why am I giving you money if you drop me so easily?!

Lessons learned

I am finally writing about this now because the claim is closed. I was worried that if I wrote about it sooner, and the case went to court, that I could screw myself somehow.

The incident happened in February of 2020 and I finally had closure the end of May 2021. It was 15 months of uncertainty and irritation at humans and the insurance industry.

I wanted to share my story and give you some advice in case you ever find yourself in a similar situation. Keep in mind, I’m not a lawyer or an expert. Just someone that got screwed. 

1. Take pictures – if someone claims your dog bit them, take photos of the injury. I didn’t do this and I kick myself in the ass for it.

2. Do not hand out your contact information- if the person wants to sue you, they can without proving you are liable. If you give them your information, you are basically saying you are guilty.

3. Avoid using your homeowner’s if you can – they will drop you like it’s hot and it’s hard as hell to get coverage after. If you can settle it on the side, do that.

4. Avoid humans – they suck. Seriously, there are people out there that will find any way to get money they do not earn. They don’t care how. Also, when you are walking your dog, just avoid people. 

Sitting here now, a year and a half later as I write this, I’m still baffled by the whole ordeal. I wish I would have moved over into the grass that day and avoided that woman. I wish I would have taken a picture of her leg so I had proof of the injury. I wish a lot of things. 

But wishes aren’t action and I can’t change the past. I have to move forward and learn from this. It’s not easy to take the high road and move on. I’m trying. This post helped me deal with some of the anger I had. 

Hopefully it helps someone else, too.