Litigation Successes

John Fleming defended a dog owner in an alleged “dog attack” case, where the injured plaintiff, a teenager, was scared by a black pit bull dog in her neighborhood, ran, fell, and broke her leg.  The defense was a case of mistaken identity of the pit bull dog.  There were three families in the neighborhood that owned black pit bull dogs.  The injured teenager claims she only saw the pit bull in question for a few seconds, in the evening hours, turned and ran.  John’s client claimed he was not home at the time of the alleged incident, and his dog was always locked inside the house until he returned home from work.  The defense was supported with testimony and work schedules establishing that he was at work when the pit bull in question was loose.  The defense had to overcome the fact that the defendant’s mother-in-law admitted to paying a fine on an ordinance violation for the dog in question “running at large” – but she testified at trial that she only did this to keep peace in the neighborhood.  The jury returned a not guilty verdict in favor of John’s client.