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Question asked: “What should I do about this lawsuit? My neighbor’s 5-year-old son snuck into my backyard and got bitten by my poodle when I was at work. Now, his parents are suing me for medical cost. What should I do?”
Take the dog to the vet to make sure it didn’t contract a disease from having that filthy stray human in its mouth—preschoolers and kindergartners are notorious vectors of contagious disease—and countersue those grossly negligent parents for the vet bill cost.
The child was unsupervised, on YOUR property, without your knowledge or consent, WHERE THE DOG BELONGED, at far too young an age to be allowed to play outside alone. No judge in his or her right mind will find YOU to be the one at fault here. That child could just as easily have wandered into a busy street, or a swimming pool, or shut himself inside an unlocked fridge or freezer or car trunk, and those rude neighbors should be grateful to you and to your dog for keeping the child distracted from all the REAL dangers he could have wandered into unawares. If your dog had happened to have been indoors at the time, that poor unattended child would have kept right on wandering and could be DEAD right now as a result.
Edit:
Do NOT rely on your homeowner’s insurance lawyer to represent you. Their interest is to settle out of court to save money. If they do this, and there is ever a next time a child invades your property and terrorizes your dog into biting, your dog will be put down. Get your OWN lawyer, and demand a jury.
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