Dog injured by fence put up by council - attempting to claim

meana

Hi all,
not sure if this is the correct forum but...
back in March, my dog was seriously injured by a very poorly finished fence put up by the council to protect a tree on our local recreation ground (her side was ripped open on the sharp ends).
Thankfully she was insured and is now better, but i'm claiming from the council for both my policy excess, the time and effort of having to take her to the vet 6 times and the aftercare she's had to have by my wife and I since the injury..
She is a whippet and was under strict instructions to not be allowed to run (so we've had to walk her into the garden for toileting on a lead each time!) She is also now scared of going into the vets (which she wasn't before) and she has a bald patch and scarring where the injuries were.
What do people think is a reasonable amount to claim for the care etc (ie things you can't realistically quantify).?

thanks for any opinions..

InsideInsurance

First thing, is your insurers pursuing the council to recover their outlay or not? Whilst insurers dont always get it right, if they are a multi-product provider (namely if they also do Motor insurance) and arent pursuing the council then the likelihood is that you dont have a particularly strong case against them.

As to quantum, unfortunately you do realistically have to quantify it. How many hours of additional "care" has it actually taken/ will it take until the end of the treatment? Normally for loss of personal time you would put a fairly arbitrary hourly rate against it, it used to be around £10/hr but may have changed in the time that I have been away from claims.

meana

I don't believe my insurers are pursuing the council..they've paid out to cover my vets bills (minus excess)..
i just want the council to pay my excess and damages over the fact that my dog was fine before and had it not been for their shoddey workmanship she wouldn't have 2 huge scars and have to had been looked after. <<end rant>>

InsideInsurance

Unless he is a pedigree breeding or show dog you arent going to get anything for the scaring nor any PSLA for the dog itself, at best you will get is an amount for the time you have spent.

If someone else is liable for the injury then the insurer would in most cases pursue that party for their costs. If the insurer does other lines of business, particularly Motor, then they will have departments set up to do explicitly that. Certainly in my claims days Home, Pet and Travel all would pass claims files to the Motor Recoveries team to access the prospects of success and pursue those which they felt worth while the effort.

If the insurer only writes pet insurance then the volume of cases which have the prospects of recovery are potentially too small to justify having anyone to do the job (evidently the skills and knowledge is considerably different).

stephenni1971

Don't you accept any responsibility given you let your dog run free around the park?

I just don't understand why someones council tax should be used to pay for your wife to take the dog into the back garden for a pee and for scarring on the dog!

ihateyes

also you have to prove the council was negligable. have you made a complaint? have they since fixed this shoddy work?

I doubt the coucil will say aye, here's some £;s....so i imagine a fight on your hands!

ps Also is there a notice in the area saying dogs should be kept on leish? if there is you aint got a leg to stand on, as from the seriosu injury you describe the whippet was running.

I feel sorry for the poor fella and hope he has recovered

rs65

I would encourage you to liaise with your insurers about making a recovery. Your policy probably contains something like this:-

If you have any legal rights against another person in
relation to your claim, we may take legal action against
them in your name at our expense. You must give us all
the help you can and provide any documents we ask for.

You don't want to prejudice their rights of recovery.

meana

hi, thanks for all your opinions...
i did make a complaint to the council and they've sent out a form for me to fill out (hence the initial question regarding a fair and reasonable amount to claim for).
their solution to the problem was to completely remove the fence (having them taken photo's of it) but you can clearly see from my photo's that had the fence been 'finished' neatly, it wouldn't have caused a problem.
There is a sign saying dogs must be kept on a lead but between 9-4 (this occured at 8 am) and i'm not the only person who's dog runs around.

Ch1ckenlady

Could I make a claim to the council for the stress caused to me when my cat brings in a rodent? Surely it's the council's fault for not ensuring that the hedgerows are free of vermin.....?

I am joking by the way!!

lisyloo

I think morally you are justified in wanting to claim for a domestic and licensed animal.
Do you have any legal advice or cover on your home insurance?
If you don't have any insurance and the insurer aren't pursuing the council then basically you are on your own.
First step would be to fill in the form and see what the council do volunttarily.
If you aren't satisifed you then have the choice of going to the small claim court. Pictures, witnesses, vet's reports, actual injury are all relevant to your case.
Personally I'd wait first to see what how the council process your claim, you have plenty of time to pursue it if it's unsatifactory.
But do record what happened e.g. dates of visits to the vets, whilst it's all fresh in your mind.
Perhaps take pictures of the scar etc.
If it takes a few months to progress you want all this to hand.

I am joking by the way!!

Hope so :-)
It's not analogous at all.
People who keep cats should expect the "stress" of dead rodents/birds.
However people going to a park should not expect themslves, their children or their pets to be injured.
Would you have the same attitude if a young boy waas bleeding and scarred when he bent down to pick up a football?
The council have a duty of care here. They are probably going to get off lightly because it's a dog and not a child, where scarring for life would be taken a lot more seriously.

mikey72

lisyloo wrote: »

.............Would you have the same attitude if a young boy was bleeding and scarred when he bent down to pick up a football?
The council have a duty of care here. They are probably going to get off lightly because it's a dog and not a child, where scarring for life would be taken a lot more seriously.

I think most of them would to be honest. Normally the first response is - think of my council tax going up, I'll have to pay for this, then - in my day you used to play on broken glass, then crawl home on stumps and think yourself lucky.