Animals and cars - legalities

There’s a lot of experience here, so I’ll try for thoughts on this situation:

I was doing field work with my tractor at night and saw the neighbor’s dog standing in the middle of the road. Before I could get to the dog a speeding car struck it. Dog flew about 250 ft. Driver pulled over and was ok, but air bag deployed and car had some bumper damage. Driver never saw the dog and never applied the brakes. A cop happened upon the scene. The driver asked for a police report. After making sure everyone was ok, the cop wanted nothing to do with the situation and stated it was a “non-reportable incident.”

A few weeks later my neighbor receives a letter from the driver’s insurance company requesting the information for the neighbor’s homeowner’s insurance to bill a few thousand dollars. Letter also stated that not responding to the letter would be considered acknowledgement of guilt and responsibility of charges.

I told my neighbor they should contact a lawyer before doing anything. My opinion a speeding driver is just as responsible for hitting something on the road, especially since it was stationary, not running out onto the road.

This could have happened to me if a cow got out. I do have insurance though. Anyone have thoughts or experiences on this?

I had a dog get hit on the road last spring. I was working ground about 3 miles from my house and a county deputy pulled into the field. I stopped to see what he wanted, and he asked if I had a german shepard pup....Long story short my homeowners insurance covered fixing the guys harley and med. bills....life goes on....but I asked who pays if he hit a deer, ground hog, coon, moose, ect...

I imagine it's the pet owners responsibility. Should have had the dog contained. Doesn't make speeding OK, but fools have the most rights.....

Dave

Owner of dog better let his insurance fight it. If they think owner is not at fault they will fight it if it is worth there time to.

Will cost him much less without attorney fees.

Gary

Nope,

The owner of the animal is responsible.

Allan

Looks to me like the driver filed a collision claim with his insurance and then the suborgation people with his company attempted to recover as they could. State laws have a lot to do with this. Here at least, livestock are not permitted to run at large, Kentucky is a fence-in state. Other states, mostly in the west are fence-out states. Also, the owner of a domestic animal is liable for damages caused by his animal running at large.

My cows got out and a neighbor was speeding around a tight turn in the middle of dark rainy night he left the scene called the sheriff from home. We had the same insurance but he was considered at fault do to reckless driving.

I would give it to the insurance co. that is why you pay them.
Walt

Don"t know how the law looks at it, but are you willing to swear out an affidavit that the driver was speeding? Neighbor could also request a deposition from the officer to back up the speeding allegation.

If it was me, I would definitely see an atty and have him send a letter to the ins. company stating there are witnesses who will testify that their insured was speeding and a police officer examined the scene even though a report was not filed. Could be enough to get the ins. company to back off.

As others said, let the insurance company and lawyers deal with it.

But the whole line about "not responding is acknowledgment of guilt" is pure BS. It's a letter from a company trying to get money, not a traffic citation.

I know of an individual who hit a cow, at night,
with a motorcycle. Motorcycle totaled, cow killed,
individual hospitalized.
Farmers insurance had to purchase a replacement
motorcycle, and pay all of the hospital bills.
In Wisconsin, livestock must be fenced in, or the
owner is liable. Also, our county has "Leash laws"
if the dog was running loose, the owner is responsible.

Same deal happened to a neighbor, once it was determined there were no leash laws in the county, issue went away.

Homeowners insurance was going to settle just to make it go away, but car owner wanted damages for 3 sides & bottom of car, got kinda rediculous.

Depends on local laws.

--->Paul

Whos dog? Was'nt my dog-prove it!

Bet someone will try suing the state for "failing to control wild animals".

Man that falls into one of those that in turn goes over a big number of other laws. Open range is one leash, another etc. etc. I do know this past fall the neighbors dog jumped out in front of my son on his motorcycle and the guys insurance had to pay up but it was on private property and a few other things

My state (Tennessee) solved the problem with the wild animals.
They passed the Tennessee Road Kill Bill.
If you hit animal with your car, you can take it home and eat it.
We hit a deer once. Put it in the trunk and drove to nearest police station.
We had to file a report for insurance. The officer examined the car and
the deer to make sure it had indeed been killed by being hit with our car.
Then he called the game warden to tag it so we could legally butcher it.
We got to keep it but it was young and not much meat. Tender tho.

Pooh Bear

As long as the driver was not speeding then I would think that the dog owner is at fault and the guys car should be repaired with the dog owner paying the bill.

I hit a dog 20 years ago, I drove back to where I hit the dog and this moron was playing ball with the dog right near the road, 50MPH mulitlane road in Michigan.
The dog had a limp afterwards, I asked if the dog was okay and the guy said yep....I just left. My car had a small dent in the bumper.

In Illinois the dog owner would be responsible.

My wife hit a dog and had a $3500 car repair to show for it. Her insurance paid for the repairs and then went after the dog's owner and his insurance company to recover the cost of the claim..

Regular,,,,,,THE BEST ADVICE IS THAT WHICH YOU ALREADY OFFERED.........CONSULT A LOCAL PROFESSIONAL ATTORNEY PERIOD before hanging your hat on lay opinions or even from an attorney as your local laws may well be different then say my jurisdiction .....HOWEVER, I doubt even thats needed as your own insurance company can and will handle it.

However, that being said I'm glad to toss out a few professional thoughts. I enjoy when legal questions are asked on here and reading the diverse well intentioned lay opinions.

1) The potential liability which the neighbor may or may not be responsible for DEPENDS FIRST ON THE LOCAL STATUTES AND ORDINANCES concerning say domestic animal leash requirements and fence and confinement of livestock laws etc. Absent a professional review of such, its speculative to render any worthwhile legal opinion, sorry. I can tell you this, if it were a cow that was in the road theres a much greater chance the neighbor may be liable.

2) YOU DO NOTTTTTTTTT HAVE TO DO ANYYHING AN ATTORNEY OR INSURANCE AGENT TELLS YOU, ITS WHEN A COURT ORDERS YOU TO DO SOMETHING IT GETS SERIOUS LOL. The law DOES NOT consider you liable because some insurance agent or attorney tells you if you dont reply you are guilty YEAH RIGHT (smoke and mirrors and intimidation).

3) Sounds like the driver submitted a claim with his insurance and they are trying to recoup
from you or your insurer. NOWWWWW if his insurance wants info from you and files legal action there is a legal process called DISCOVERY by which they can get answers and you must provide certain info or face sanctions. Legal action is expensive and neither insurance company wants to get into all that i.e. they can much cheaper settle it amongst themselves which is what will happen unless its like a million dollar action.

4) Also there may be Comparative Fault in your jurisdiction which affects liability issues

MY ADVICE WOULD BE FIRSTTTTTTTTTTT LET YOUR OWN INSURANCE AGENT DEAL WITH HIS AGENT AND DO NOTTTTTTTTTTTTTT OFFER ANY INFO OR OPINIONS IN THE MEANTIME

If the driver was speeding and there's no domestic aninmal leash or confinement requirements I dont see the neighbor (or his insurance) having to pay a dime. But again, I cant say not having researched your laws and NOT being the fact finder, thats for a Judge or Jury to decide NOT me or you or any attorney or insurance agents.........

John T Attorney at Law in Indiana The "Country Lawyer"

In most western states you hit a cow you own it, it is a statutory requirement of the hiway dept to maintain fences in Co. In Colorado if you hid anything you can be fined for not adequately controlling your vehicle. Proving ownership of a dog would be difficult.

In Connecticut the dog owner is liable. (Plus probably a bunch of nuances which is why you should consult an attorney in an actual incident)

Dog licensing was started in Connecticut to reimburse farmers for livestock damage by roaming dogs.

The tag itself identified the dog, but if no tag and no other way to ascertain / prove ownership, then damages were paid for out of the money the town collected selling dog licenses.

Hi John T,

I agree 100% with what you stated and only telling my story from my experience.

In Oregon, open range law in effect, I'm traveling down a two lane State hi-way late one night in my 76' Dodge Power Wagon with clubcab, when a 600lb calf ran into the side of my truck. That's correct, the calf ran into the side of my front fender, flipped into the door, then crushed the clubcab side where my daughter was sleeping. Daughter was not hurt think GOD.

I went too the farm house and woke up the farmer as the calf was still alive. He came out too where I was and called the State Police.

The SP shows up and says "hello Bob" and my heart sank as my first name is NOT "Bob", then pulled his 357 out a put the calf down with a head shot.

I called "Bob" the next day after I had found out I didn't pay my insurance on time, 90days in arrears as I forgot. Bob stated he sold the daddy for $35,000 that year and wanted $3500 for the 600lb calf. I said we'll see you in court and hung up.

I never heard another word out of "Bob"

Visiting my Dad and his good friend, the head of the local BLM district, Stated that when the farmer fenced his property, he voided the open range law, thus I was not responsible.

T_Bone

I am in S.D. and I hit a calf 3 years ago and killed it. The insurance companies here say that Livestock owners are responsible for there loss and vehicle owners are responsible for there loss unless you can prove that the livestock is out all the time .

In Pennsylvania, if the fence is still in the air, even just the bottom strand of hi-T, it's the driver's problem. My friend's boss was saved by that fact. PA also has free range laws, a farm across the valley from us has "open range" signs up. Having the signs up, as long as he doesn't do something as foolish as staking livestock out in the road, he is not liable for any collisions.

Dogs aren't considered livestock, though.

You need to research your own town and county laws. You don't need a lawyer for that.

Here in my town, in Otsego County, New York, a dog is required to be leashed unless on private/owners property. If it gets hit by a car in a road, the owner of the dog is responsible for any damage. And, then, who pays depends on what sort of insurance the dog-owner has. Some home policies pay, and some do not.

Chickens, on the other hand, have the right to go anywhere they please, regardless of who owns them. We still have free-range bird rights on the books since 1798. You can fence them out, but otherwise they can go whereever they please, including City Hall - if the door is open. That applies to all farm birds including ducks and geese.

We also used to have free-range cattle rights. That was repealed though, long ago. A friend of mine had a wandering Holstein wander out in the highway and a car hit it. Car was totalled, so was the cow. My friend, the cow-owner wound up paying a lot of money. He had let his farm-insurance lapse and had to pay out-of-pocket.

Back to dogs, our leash laws say they must be leashed unless on the owner's or private property. Well, I wonder what would happen at my place, since I own almost a mile of town road. The road IS my property, but the town and public have a right-of-way over it. I'm not going to stick my dog out there to find out.

In our state dogs horses cows etc the owner is to blame. Wild animals the car driver is to blame but gets the animal. Many years ago state paid for damage but no more.

Thanks everyone for the input.

John T, yours is especially helpful. We're on the same page.

I didn't want the neighbor falling into the insurance company's trap. He showed me a drafted reply letter for them that even had me referenced in it. Told him not to send it and to contact an attorney.

Yep, let the insurance companies fight it out. I'm not talking unless ordered by a judge. I think this case could go either way, depending on any 'leash law'. However the driver was probably doing 55mph in a 35, and this can be calculated and certified. So let the judge or jury decide who's at fault.

I often thank God it was a dog and not a kid. The dog was tough enough to watch.

I can't believe the cop wouldn't write a report? Maybe this driver should have a chat with his/her superior...

In my neck of the woods, if your airbag deploys, there's a 90%+ chance that you're getting a ride to the hospital. Sure, you can sign off, but you will be checked at the scene by an ambulance crew.