Can I be sued?

M

mwill

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 October 2011
Messages
51
Visit site
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 :-)
 
Can the dog even reach the letter box :confused:


Sounds like he has maybe caught his finger in a sharp part of the letterbox while hearing the dog bark maybe? :confused:

I would possibly send them a simple and to the point reply about how it very unlikely it would be etc, and see if they chase it up. If they do, I would seek legal advice.

Good luck :)
 
Unless the dog can climb the curtains, how the hell did it reach the letterbox, uless it's at floor level!! Bet he slammed it in the car door more like.
 
I'm guessing he was banging on the door after delivering the keys to say he'd been bitten and to show someone the extent of the damage or even to ask for his finger tip back. He's a bit stupid putting his hand in the letter box anyway particularly so far down a chichihua can reach.

I do think you and the dog could be in trouble over this so get some legal advice. He may want loss of earnings etc etc.

My thoughts re defense.

Why put your hand somewhere where you can hear a dog snarling / barking.
Very hard for a small chichihua to reach a letter box
Why is there no evidence of blood etc on the letterbox or surrounding area.
Why not wait until the door is opened properly or ring for the home owner.
 
Last edited:
if the letter box is at the base of the door... then possibly, if it is at the middle of the door, then your dog is very very talented.

I would photo door, and dog and challenge the e-mail

Perhaps also seek legal advice just in case
 
Sounds a but far fetched to me!

If he was so badly injured, it would be a matter for the Police. I don't think he's that bad if there's no blood on your door. How high is your letter box from the ground?

Have a good look for the piece that's been bitten off, you might be able to sell it back to him!
 
I have dealt with a case like this in the past, so he could sue.

Photograph the door immediately to show the lack of blood and send them to your insurers as evidence that there is no blood. Photograph the letterbox and the dog too if you intend to rely upon the fact that the dog could not reach the letterbox.

I am surprised that this isn't covered on your pet insurance, if you have public liability insurance for your dog then it should be. If you don't then lesson learnt get public liability insurance.

If it isn't covered on your pet insurance check your home insurance and if you are a member of anything like dog agility or kennel club or whatever ask them too. Even if you don't have public liability if you have legal expenses cover this will help as it will get you a lawyer to help.

There is a possibility you could be liable if your dog can reach the letter box and you don't have a basket or guard. However there is also a possibility that the car hire company could be liable as the driver should have been trained not to put his hand right inside the letter box but to push things through from the outside. It could end up being a case of split liability with you, the employer and the driver himself (contributory negligence) sharing liability.

Do take this seriously, a claim is a possibility, and proving your dog couldn't reach the letter box isn't necessarily going to solve things as it could have been the letterbox that caused the injury and you could still potentially be held liable. I've dealt with a few of those too!
 
It's a sad state of affairs when you can't have a tiny Chihuahua locked safely in your house and be liable for something as unlikely as it biting someones fingers as they push something through the letter box. Does it do this when the postman comes?

It's not as though you're letting a Pit Bull run amok is it! I mean, a Chihuahua!
 
Unless the dog had known issues with agression I would've thought it would be covered.

I used to see TP claims for a small animal insurance company. You wouldn't believe the amount of claims they got for dogs biting fingers!

Were there any blood stains outside? for an injury that bad i would've thought there would be possible bleeding on your doorstep as he withdrew his hand.
 
thanks guys, how do I post a pic in here? I can post a pic of the dog at the door for you to see?

Secondly, I have owned my dog for 8 years, she has always been very friendly, never bitten, good with kids, NEVER been a problem with the postman and he has delivered here for 6 years!

KristmasKat, I do have public libiltiy cover on my dog insurance, however when I phoned them, they said they will not cover it as it is a behaviour issue! Complete nightmare as she is a real lapdog and such a sweetie. All she does is bark when someone knocks, however this delivery car driver would know this as he delivered a different car yesterday, and funnily didnt get bitten then! Only today, how convenient when he knew a dog lived here!

I have checked outside and on my letter box but no signs of blood :-(
 
Ur hum.... mum has a a little dog - a chiuaua jr cross - sorry about the spelling - i put my finger through the letter box in the middle of the door..... bloody thing was on them.... she launched... i screamed... dog locked on..... dad had to throw water over dog to get her off me..... terrible mess of my fingers.... but got a right slap off dad as he was so angry that i had been so stupid - i was 42 at the time !

so sorry first hand - lol - experiance says yep they could !

Its been a standing joke ever since that they are a Chew OW A since then ! lol
 
What utter balls! He put his hand through the letter box at his own risk like an utter IDIOT. Doesn't matter if he was delivering keys, moon cheese or a cheque for £1 billion. If he isn't insured through the company for doing his own job then good luck to him! Me thinks someone wants some time off for Christmas.

Please try not to worry.
 
It cheeses me off that there's the possibility that he could claim. It's your house. Your dog. It wasn't running amok. Then strange guy decides to poke his fingers through your letter box instead of ringing the doorbell. How's that your fault? Unless the dog has a habit of biting postmen's fingers? Has it done this or tried to in the past?

Our lurcher bites postmen/couriers so we have a blue wooden mailbox attached to the wall beside our front door. We do have a middle height positioned brass letterbox on our wooden front door but I taped this up with clear parcel tape and stuck a laminated sign onto it saying, "PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS LETTER BOX". And added more tape for good measure. It worked. Well, it did until I came home one afternoon and found a plastic Charity collection bag on the mat inside the front door. The twasock delivering it only tried to peel off all the tape and then slit through the plastic with something (keys? Knife?) so he could stuff the bag through the closed off letter box. WTF? I was fuming. Thankfully the dogs were locked out back in their run on this occasion, as I'd only popped out for 10 mins - but normally they are inside and guarding the house. Goodness knows what the outcome could have been if Spyda has been in when this moron delivered his baggie. If she'd bit him and he'd tried to sue me I'd have socked him one! :mad:
 
Last edited:
No she has never bit the postman ever and I have never had any complaints about her whatsoever, and we live in a fairly new development and are forever getting takeaway leaflets and lots of junk posted by strange people numerous times per day. infact I have had a kebab menu posted as we speak and she did not even look up!
 
mwill said:
No she has never bit the postman ever and I have never had any complaints about her whatsoever, and we live in a fairly new development and are forever getting takeaway leaflets and lots of junk posted by strange people numerous times per day. infact I have had a kebab menu posted as we speak and she did not even look up!
Click to expand...

In that case I think you'd have a strong defence. Would your Royal Mail postman vouch for you? If you could prove that the little dog wasn't a problem with postal deliveries, surely it would go a long way to disproving the likliehood that the injury was sustained by your dog. With no blood or witnesses, how can he prove it happened at your front door? That said, if he wasn't able to drive the hire car away and needed to be collected by someone and be taken to A&E directly from your drop - it does seem pretty convincing that something happened near or at your address. But like someone else said, maybe he slammed his fingers in the car door and doesn't want to look like a pillock. :rolleyes:
 
No he would not have seen the dog. I think he had a driver with him to take him back after dropping the car off at my house. They were due to be here at 9am (I waited in) and as they didn't arrive my 10am I left to go to work, and they didn't arrive until 12.30pm! So if I was here to sign for the car I suppose it wouldn't have happened. I mean, like you say, he could have cut his finger on car door, or even making his lunch this morning! Funny thing was, the manager of the hire company phoned me straight away and said she had seen photos of his 'chopped off finger' so the first thing he must have done is send a pic of his injured finger to his boss....
 
When some old lady shoved her whole hand through my letterbox delivering a leaflet and my tiny sheltie jumped up and bit her fingers there was blood , quite alot of it on the doorstep , so i doubt very much he was bitten if there's no blood !
 
Yep is possible but he did so at his own risk. Your property, dog inside your property and HE put HIS fingers through the letterbox.
How can he prove it was your dog?
Idiot.
 
It's your house where your dog is inside secure and under control, not your problem if some idiot shoves his hand through there. would your postman write a letter or something to say how he has never had a problem with your dog? take pictures of the door straight away to show there is no blood.
 
I would say it is 50/50 - your dog should not have bitten and he should not have put his hand through the letter box. However, it is not so easy to poke keys through a letter box as it is letters.

As for insurance your dog would be covered for third party. Any insurance will try to wriggle out of paying for damages and tell you to claim on your household insurance.
Insist that you talk to someone higher and make a fuss about it.

As said, take pictures of the lack of blood. I would say that your dog could easily reach the letter box Chihuahuas have a good jump to them. They are also renowned for being quite feisty!
 
The lack of blood is something in your favour

Perhaps the dog was excited by the keys coming through the letter box, thought they were something to play with or something?

The driver will be used to delivering keys though and I would imagine would have had some sort of training or memo about the possibility of being bitten -when I worked for a company that used to have to leave 'sorry you were out' cards our guys were forever getting memos and letters about the risks of dogs protecting their homes

Despite the lack of blood I would be surprised if the chap was lying especially given the banging on the front door at the time the keys were dropped off.

I would imagine though that it would be possible for someone at A&E to report on whether the injury was recent and whether it could have been caused by a dog
 
I think someone is trying it on with you. It is a compo culture I am afraid , someone tried it with me years ago with my old springer, unfortunately claimant dropped a clanger! Cos the said dog was in the vets that day and vet sent letter to the claims company stating that.... Funny we never heard anymore. And lord knows where the claimant did get his fingers bitten but it sure was not my old springer...
If you think your dog didn't do it, and no blood on door or no bit of finger lurking in your hall, then stick to your guns.
Good luck and cute doggie..
 
The government are being lobbied by Royal Mail at the moment to change the law so people can be criminally responsible for the actions of their pets while on their own premises. However currently that isnt the case.

However a civil damages claim could be brought, so yes you could be sued for damages. But they couldnt give you a criminal record or take the dog away and PTS.
 
Horseforever, I just don't know if she bit him. I would be 70% sure she didn't, but I suppose if she was took by surprise, or wound up by him, then I suppose you can never say never? She has never bitten anyone before, or had problems with the postman. i cannot find any blood, so maybe she just nicked him? I just do not know :-(

Problem is, the man has told the hire company he cannot work and went straight to A and E. I mean come on, is he a man or a mouse!?

My mum said he was banging and ringing on the door bell for 5 -10 mins, therefore, i am surprised that if the finger is as bad as he is letting on, there would be blood everywhere. My boyfriend cut his finger at work a few years back, and there was so much blood it was crazy!

I am so worried he will get a no win no fee solictor behind him, and I wont be able to afford to pay out as know it can reach thousands, and after speaking to the dog insurance company (E and L) who I have just found out are scammers themselves, I am just beside myself with worry :-(
 
If there is no blood on your doorstep, then he will have a devil of a time proving it was your dog. The man who was with him may be prepared to write a statement saying he came back covered in blood.
I would get a statement from your postie, and see if there is anyway he could have cut his finger in your letterbox, some of them will shut on you very quickly, I snapped a pen in one delivering something one day!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top