Can I be sued?

I take it your mum didnt answer the door to him? That may be hard to explain IF he knew someone was in the house - could be seen in a bad light possibly?
 
Could he have been banging on the door for ages BEFORE putting the keys through and would that have been enough to wind the dog up, especially if your mum was in the bath and the dog was scared for her.

It does sound far fetched, in the sense of no blood evident, dog could have eaten finger tip but there would be blood outside surely?
 
No she didnt, she was in the shower, and when they was banging agressively (strange man at the door when she saw out of the window) she ignored him. When the hire firm phoned me, they didn't say they knew someone was in, and to be fair, it probably is better she didn't. I just don't know how they can put the blame onto a dog they have never seen ??
 
We have just done a replay of the situation, and it is very difficult (near on impossible) to get your whole fingers through the door. To post the keys you have to literally push them, you couldn't dangle your fingers in enough to be literally bitten off :-( so confused
 
If his finger tip was bitten off - where is the tip? - Assuming it was bitten inside the house as his fingers were through the letter box?
Lack of blood would, to me, seriously indicate that no such accident happened at your property. Believe me, it splatters and you would have blood splatters on your door, both inside and out, the mat and probably the walls too - even the dog!
 
Festive memories, I hear what you are saying, I am in agreement with you, with regards to the lack of blood, but how can I prove otherwise? I have taken pics, but they may say i cleaned up before taking them
 
mwill said:
Festive memories, I hear what you are saying, I am in agreement with you, with regards to the lack of blood, but how can I prove otherwise? I have taken pics, but they may say i cleaned up before taking them
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You can, if situations get really dire, get a device from the police investigator (murder/crime people) to ''scan'' places which detect blood splatters. I'd be extremely surprised if your cleaning skills can clean up all the blood splatters. Usually cleaning that kind of mess up takes a while. Your door mats will be particually hard to clean.
 
Sounds a bit odd, as if the injury was as bad as they're making out there would be some blood at least. As the manger has photos I would be requesting that they emailed the photos over to you.
 
Dogs don't usually bite make a clean bit as there is too much bone in a finger. Doing what has been done at best would be a puncture wound.

Personally I would be asking for proof and a chat with the manager of the company, DO NOT admit any liability or possible liability. There are some dreadful people out there who will make money in which ever way they see fit fraud is sadly some peoples way of doing it. Have a chat with Trevor Cooper http://www.doglaw.co.uk/ he will at least be able to give you some good advice if nothing else.
 
And look at the background of the photos eg does it look like your door or your road, or does it look like he took the photo in his kitchen? he would have banged on the door because he needed someone to sign for the car? I can't see how his finger tip was bitten off if there's no blood. I think he's faking.
 
It may depend on what part of the fingertip was bitten off - the whole tip or just a bit from the pad part of the fingertip. One of my fingers was sliced in half lengthways from knuckle closest to fingernail right through to the end and sliced through my fingernail. The bleeding from my injury wasn't as bad as many people who've commented on this thread has said. And it certainly didn't spurt all over the place but then I elevated my hand after wrapping tissues tightly round it. However you would think there would be some blood somewhere around the door or at least on the step/path outside.

I'd be cross if someone had been in my house and a delivery man was banging away for 15 minutes at my door and they didn't answer it tbqh. If only your mother HAD answered the door then she would have been able to see whether or not the wound was dog-made or not. Now you simply do not know what the wound was like and are not able to judge whether it was done by the dog (which definitely looks big enough to reach the letterbox btw) or a clean cut from a car door or similar.

I have no idea what the driver can and cannot do in regards to the law. Anyone can sue anyone though so if he's that way inclined ...

I would ask the boss person to email you the photos of the finger. And I'm not surprised he photographed his finger and sent it to his boss. Did you mention there was another person in the car with him? A witness to the event??
 
my mum was in the shower, so when she came out she didnt want to answer to a angry person banging the door down. In hindsight, it would have been good if we had seen the cut, but we didnt :-( I think I will ask to see the cut on the photos
 
Your house insurance will potentially cover you. I'd do nothing, wait and see what develops and gather as much evidence as possible. Video replay of keys etc. Admit no liability. The dog has never bitten, get a statement from postie to that effect. Video the post coming through the door and the dog's reaction. Etc.
 
Sounds like total tosh to me.

Firstly no finger tip - ok dog may have eaten it.

No blood. Sorry don't buy that there wasn't a drop spilt anywhere at all.

How on earth was he able to bang on the door with an injured finger - supposedly on the other hand to the one he was banging with - without dropping blood? He wouldn't have been able to hold any makeshift bandage on the other hand if he was banging on your door would he?

I would have thought the police would have been involved.

Surely as much as the onus is on you to prove he didn't sustain this injury he has to prove he did.
 
Logicaly (sp) if the dog bit his finger off inside your house, his withdrawing his hand from the letterbox would have left blood inside the letterbox, use a damp cottonbud to wipe around the letterbox, if it comes out pinkish there's been blood there, at least you would know for sure.
My very large GSD took to eating the post put through the door, yet would make a huge fuss of the postman outside, we had the post left in a porch and this was a potentially aggressive dog who didn't think twice about following up his warnings with an attack
 
mwill said:
My small friendly dog (chihuahua) is being accused of biting a car delivery drivers finger tip off (yes the whole tip!) when he delivered the keys to a hire car. My mum was in at the time, and was in the shower. When she came down the keys had been put through, and the she said there was a lot of banging vigerously on the door, and she was a little scared to open it and the banging sounded aggresively. (not sure why he was banging after he had delivered the keys?) The hire company are now claiming the driver is so badly injured, he cannot drive the other car back, and has got to go to A and E. A email was sent to my company (who arranged for the hire car - company car) to report this, and to tell me that my letter box will be covered in blood from the attack!!!! On inspection to the door there is no blood. I am very worried that he will try to sue me for this, my dog is insured, but I have phoned the insurance company to ask them if this would be covered, and they said no, and it is a behavioural issue and they do not cover for this type of thing. Any thoughts or legal people that can help me out? Thanks in advance :-)
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I don't know whether anyone has suggested this but most solicitors have a system where you can get a short basic consultation free of charge. Alternatively, if you are a BHS gold member you have legal cover and can get advice not just on equine matters.

I'm tempted to think that a case involving a man-eating chihuahua might be laughed out of court but don't take my word for it. Another commonsense suggestion (but not legal advice) might be that the dog was defending its own territory against what it might reasonably assume to be an incursion. In any case you need legal advice if only to put your mind at rest.

In any case, don't be panicked into saying or writing anything that might be construed as admitting any liability. Best of luck.
 
Thanks guys, think I will sit tight and see what happens. If I receive a letter, I will have to deal with it when it arrives, and seek legal advice. I just hope I have legal cover on my household insurance'
 
I don't think think I would wait if I were you'

IMHO you need to contact your employer as they were the ones who hired the car - they need to be kept informed and they probably have legal help available.

Also, while it seems that this guy was injured it is arguable as to where he was injured and if you wait it becomes a case of 'he said, they said' . At the moment, there is no sign of blood at your house so that is your defense - it may not be usable in 6 months time. Might be worth looking in the hire car to see if there is blood in that - if there is it would prove that he was hurt before he approached the door and put the keys through...

Check the PL section of both your E&L and house insurance, I'm 95% sure that neither can slide out of their responsibilities so easily unless they have a specific disclaimer on your policy but you do need to find out which policy you might need to claim on (I would guess that the dog's policy would be the most appropriate) so you can get advice on what evidence you need to get/keep. As you've discovered ins co will try and give you the runaround in the hope you go away!

Another possibility is to report this to the police on 101 in case it's some kind of scam - unlikely I know but if he is trying it on doing that might make him think twice about it.

The above all assumes that you are as sure as you can be the dog didn't bite him. If he did, well it will cost you money but since it was on private property at least you cannot (for now anyway) be prosecuted or be made have the dog PTS. Be aware though, that if you are found liable for this instance that your future insurance may not cover you for anything like this! Another good reason to fight on!
 
Festive Memories said:
You can, if situations get really dire, get a device from the police investigator (murder/crime people) to ''scan'' places which detect blood splatters. I'd be extremely surprised if your cleaning skills can clean up all the blood splatters. Usually cleaning that kind of mess up takes a while. Your door mats will be particually hard to clean.
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you can get light scanners that detect the presence of blood which shows up under UV light. However, buying one for just this instance would be prohibitive although i suppose its POSSIBLE a police forensic unit might come out and do it for you its unlikely considering no one has been murdered and its not a police case!

if insurance co would pay for this.. possibly if the evidence of blood at the 'scene' or not was considered to be crucial to disputing the claim.

you need Columbo! :D
 
I was injured by someone else's horse. Loads of witnesses, went to hospital and was off work for 4 months. The owner if the horse had no insurance.
I employed a solicitor, who were great, but as there is no legal requirement to have insurance there was nothing we could do, the only thing was to personally sue her, but I was advised against it as it was unlikely I'd get anything even if I won as she had no assets.
My solicitor said that all she had to do was ignore it.
So, even if the delivery man has a good case (which seems unlikely) like I certainly did, any no win no fee company will only take on the risk if they are sure of a result.
:)
 
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