imported post
I know this is off topic a bit, but I could really go for some advice. I know there are a lot of forum members on here who are familiar with the law, so here it goes.
I'm sharing a house with my brother. Yesterday we got a package delivered to our house, and the mailman accidentally dropped it off at the wrong house. It was addressed to the house with the exact same house number, but our street is "place" and it was addressed to "street".
My brother decided to go drop it off at the right house. He was going to leave it on the front patio. He had to go through a gated fence to get to the front door. The door is on the opposite side of the yard, so he had to have walked across the yard to get there. Halfway through, the home owners St Bernard came running around from the corner of the house (coming from the back yard) and jumped up on him and attacked him. The dog bit his neck and missed his jugular by only 1/3 an inch. He started bleeding profusely.. and then all of a sudden the home owner came running out in a bath robe and called his dog off and called 911 immediately. The medics came and took him to the hospital.. he ended up getting a few stitches in his neck, and it could have been a very serious injury had it been 1/3 inch closer to his jugular. Now, my brother has no medical insurance, and I know he's going to be getting a huge bill from the hospital.
The home owner not only had a gated fence, but my brother had to unhook the latch, and there was both a "No Trespassing" sign and a "Dog on Premises" sign. My brother assumed the dog wasn't around because he didn't see him and didn't know that the front yard connected to the back yard.
In this situation, do you think the home owner can be held liable for any hospital bills? My brother wasn't trespassing unlawfully.. he was delivering a package to him that he had. My brother said he isn't even going to attempt a law suit because he blames himself, but I hate to see him get a medical bill for thousands and thousands of dollars for trying to do a good deed.
By the way, we live in Washington State.
I know this is off topic a bit, but I could really go for some advice. I know there are a lot of forum members on here who are familiar with the law, so here it goes.
I'm sharing a house with my brother. Yesterday we got a package delivered to our house, and the mailman accidentally dropped it off at the wrong house. It was addressed to the house with the exact same house number, but our street is "place" and it was addressed to "street".
My brother decided to go drop it off at the right house. He was going to leave it on the front patio. He had to go through a gated fence to get to the front door. The door is on the opposite side of the yard, so he had to have walked across the yard to get there. Halfway through, the home owners St Bernard came running around from the corner of the house (coming from the back yard) and jumped up on him and attacked him. The dog bit his neck and missed his jugular by only 1/3 an inch. He started bleeding profusely.. and then all of a sudden the home owner came running out in a bath robe and called his dog off and called 911 immediately. The medics came and took him to the hospital.. he ended up getting a few stitches in his neck, and it could have been a very serious injury had it been 1/3 inch closer to his jugular. Now, my brother has no medical insurance, and I know he's going to be getting a huge bill from the hospital.
The home owner not only had a gated fence, but my brother had to unhook the latch, and there was both a "No Trespassing" sign and a "Dog on Premises" sign. My brother assumed the dog wasn't around because he didn't see him and didn't know that the front yard connected to the back yard.
In this situation, do you think the home owner can be held liable for any hospital bills? My brother wasn't trespassing unlawfully.. he was delivering a package to him that he had. My brother said he isn't even going to attempt a law suit because he blames himself, but I hate to see him get a medical bill for thousands and thousands of dollars for trying to do a good deed.
By the way, we live in Washington State.