Cousin suing the county

Got a cousin suing the county over his sheep being killed.
Looks like the law is on his side. The original reason for dog licenses in the first place was to reimburse farmers for livestock lost to dogs,not to run the animal shelter. Seems like after a lot of years of not having to pay,the fund should be quite large by now.
The article

Ohio has the dog law for animals killed by dogs to be paid out of the licence fee but as far as I know there is nothing about going after the owner of the dogs. We have had that different times years ago.

Hope it works for him as it should, sounds like commission wants to play ostrich and see if it goes away

Two dogs are never good,

AAnd then theres that Rottweller thing..Who would want one

I live waaay the He$$ out in the boonies and Blue heelers are bad enuff..

Ahh and thats a 1 blue heeler..Unless the sitzu gets out..

And the 2 dummys do like to tour..

The owner's are liable but more than likely do not have the funds to pay a $7K deal. Her home owners insurance should have a clause to cover this in it. I have had livestock damaged by dogs in the past and if we found the owners their home owners insurance paid me for the damages.

As for the county pay anything out. Well that would vary widely from state to state and I would bet even county to county. It all is how the local laws are written and enforced.

In many places livestock owners are out in the cold. Many states are changing fence and general liability laws to where the livestock owners are on their own.

I just had a round with the county here about my cattle getting out the counties half of the fence after some hunters cut the fence.(fence is around county owned nature area) I had cattle injured and the county had building that was under construction destroyed.

The supervisors where trying to have my insurance pay everything. Then my insurance company brought out the big gun lawyers. We settled that they paid for their building and I was out any cost to the cattle. We both agreed to build a new fence come spring. The old fence is not that old but it has been cut many times and you just can't keep it tight.

Also the DNR has set up cameras along the access to the nature area. They have arrested 4-5 poachers. They lost their weapons and vehicles plus did some jail time. The county judge kind of threw the book at them to try and get the message to others not to be doing this stuff.

I'd say the probability of your cousin collecting anything from the county is slim to none. On second thought, change that to "nonexistent". The county will refer the claim to its insurance company, which is most likely the Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority (MMRMA). Although eight grand is chump change to the MMRMA, they would be foolish to settle, because that would set a precedent for future claims. There's no doubt as to who is at fault, and it's not the county.

If someone would give me $450 for each of my ewes I'd help load them tonight!

Based solely on a brief read (No research of local laws, no hard facts to go on, no warranty) it is my unresearched yet preliminary professional opinion as an Attorney your cousin has a good chance to prevail provided theres good admissilbe evidence. If he were my client Id go after BOTH the dog owner and the County pursuant to statute, I'd start making demands and watch them squirm a bit and see what the insurance carriers offer. Its likely more cost effective to settle versus the high cost of litigation.

Best wishes n good luck

PS this is a question for good competent professionals, CONSULT WITH A LOCAL ATTORNEY and dont hang you hat on lay opinions

John T Attorney at Law

John T, I love reading your writings, it is like watching a master craftsman make something.

THANKS for the kind words, being a retired engineer having done a ton of technical and specification writing along with the more recent semi retired law man gig I HAVE EXPERIENCE and love disclaimers and legal schmegal lol

John T

In my opinion, the dog owner should have to pay full costs and not be permitted to own any dogs, for say 10 years. It's amazing the damage two or three dogs can do to sheep in a short time, especially in a penned in area. We had 300-400 head of sheep and really had to keep watch. Any roaming unknown dog was shot on sight and farm neighbors knew their dogs would cost them big bucks if they got into the sheep and the dog would also be shot.

450.00 and you'd help load,?? i was thinking 450.00 and i'd deliver !!!!!

I am an engineer, but have never been gifted with the art of writing. I spend most of my time hands on fixing things that other people screw up. I do factory automation.

That is why we have laws. You have a right to own a dog. You do not have the right to let your uncontollable dog run wild, come on my property, and kill my livestock.

Maybe the lawsuit will wake up the local govt. and remind them that they have laws to enforce.

(quoted from post at 02:21:50 04/15/13) Ohio has the dog law for animals killed by dogs to be paid out of the licence fee but as far as I know there is nothing about going after the owner of the dogs. We have had that different times years ago.

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We got a payment for a calve getting killed by a neighbor's dog (in Ohio) and one injured, didn't see the dog do it, but it had been seen chasing them in prior weeks. The neighbor had been warned about it many times in the past. The person who came out said that we had the right to "eliminate" anything that was harassing our livestock, he went to see the neighbor too. The next time it came into the pasture was the last time. Always regretted having to do that but we had about 30 head we were feeding and most of them were younger.

Neighbor's rottweiler teamed up with a neighboring farmers mutt and went on a rampage at my place a few years back. Killed 4 ewes, maimed another. I caught them in the act but the only gun I had handy was a single shot 12 Ga. I took some long range pot shots, maybe I peppered them, maybe I didn't, who knows. Cops told us to work it out among ourselves. Both neighbors payed, and the one with the rot lost their dog. Never paid a fine as far as I am aware. The owners of the rot are the neighborhood scumbags who never kept track of their animals, basically letting them run free. The other neighbor is dairyman who really didn't think he owed us anything because "things happen" and when he finally did pay he refused to pay the full amount because "there's no way a sheep is worth that much". Like to see what he would have said if dogs had got one of his holstein heifer calves. I know one thing, if I had my 22-250 handy that day, both dogs would have been as dead as my sheep.

(quoted from post at 10:48:34 04/15/13) That is why we have laws. You have a right to own a dog. You do not have the right to let your uncontollable dog run wild, come on my property, and kill my livestock.

Maybe the lawsuit will wake up the local govt. and remind them that they have laws to enforce.

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So the county should have some one watching all dogs to see if they escape.
That will not cost taxpayers anything|

Wisconsin also has a law that is supposed ot use money from dog liscenses to pay for killed livestock. Last year in March a husky broke into my parents chicken coop and killed a total of 43 birds, and maimed a few more. They got a little, but nowhere near what the full grown laying hens were worth. The dollar amounts were set back in the 50's or 60's, and had never been updated.

My parents contested it but not much came of it, other than folks living in town saying that chickens aren't worth that much.

Donovan from Wisconsin

(quoted from post at 20:18:54 04/15/13)

(quoted from post at 10:48:34 04/15/13) That is why we have laws. You have a right to own a dog. You do not have the right to let your uncontollable dog run wild, come on my property, and kill my livestock.

Maybe the lawsuit will wake up the local govt. and remind them that they have laws to enforce.

Click to expand...

So the county should have some one watching all dogs to see if they escape.
That will not cost taxpayers anything|

Click to expand...

No, it's far easier than that. The dogs owner should be financially and criminally responsible for any damage the dog does. Simple as that. We own 13 dogs. They don't roam free, they get their rabies, etc. It's called personal responsibility.