Dog ran into me and I broke my ankle - now what?

Sally22_2

Surely this is on of the reasons why we buy pet insurance? I just checked my policy documents and this is what they say.

What is covered
Damages and costs to others which you become legally liable to pay if your dog causes:
Death or injury to a person; or Loss or damage to their property.

If someone who is not a member of your family is looking after your dog when the injury or damage happens, we will still pay as long as you:
• asked them to look after your dog;
• did not agree to pay them to look after your dog;
• and the death, injury, loss or damage was not to them or their property.

The most we will pay for any claim or series of claims
arising from any one event during the period of insurance is up to £1,000,000 (Silver), £1,500,000 (Gold) or £2,000,000 (Platinum) depending on the cover you have selected, plus defence costs agreed by us in writing

I guess it comes under whether you are legally liable or not.

If my dog caused someone to break their ankle then I would be devastated for the person but I would fully expect them to want to claim on my insurance. Yes it is an accident but whats the point of having insurance if we are all too scared to offend each other by using it. Also if a dog caused me an injury then I would want to claim on the owners insurance if they had it.

Its not ambulance chasing, its not like they are pretending they have broken their ankle (like some people claim for 'whiplash' in a car accident when they don't actually have it for example)

If a car ran me over while I was on the pavement, I would claim on their insurance, why is this different? I wouldnt say 'oh it was an accident, your car didn't mean to hit me so don't worry about it. Plus I don't want your insurance premiums to increase so lets just forget all about it'

Isn't everything accidental? No one wants to crash into another car, no one wants their house to burn down, no one wants their pet to harm someone else.

Although saying that, I don't know what you would do if the owner said their dog wasn't insured at all or refused to give you details of their insurance.

duchy

Insurance will only pay out if liability can be proved eg like negligence.

The onus will be on the OP to prove the other dog owner was negligent (eg in not having his dog on a leash) but if it is normal practice for dogs to be off the lead in this section of park (and as the OP's dog was also off lead it's likely it was) it would be very easy to argue that the OP's partner being aware of this should have been more alert to this type of hazard and shouldn't have been running so contributed to or even caused the accident as they were regular users of the park so were aware dogs are customarily off lead.

This accident is more like running in the road and getting knocked down by a car rather than a car on the pavement-both the dog and the runner had equal "right" to be there.

I wouldn't hold my breath for an insurance payout.

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow

by all means go ahead and persue an insurance claim but remember that you can only sue someone if they have money. If they have no money they won't be able to pay out.


I'm pretty sure the insurers won't pay up either. they will wangle out of it somehow I'm sure. Insurers don't like paying out (although they love taking our money)

NotSuchASmugMarriedNow

And many pet owners don't have pet insurance anyway. Me for one.

dandelionclock30

Why cant she work from home? OP your trying it on pal big style.

eskimo26

The dog was out of control and caused injury.

It's the job of the owner to make sure their dog is not harming anyone in anyway whether that is an aggressive dog or a big dog throwing their body against you and making you topple over.

Only a selfish irresponsible owner would think otherwise. I would have called the Police on the non-emergency number it sounds like a serious injury.

This is not compensation culture, CONTROL YOUR DOGS it is YOUR responsibility.

Andyclockwise

jetplane wrote: »

Andyclockwise
What would your own dogs insurance cover in these circumstances, ie.your own unleashed dog caused an injury?



Yes, it covers up to £2m if we have been proven negligent.

Will you be keeping your own dog on a leash from now on?



Yes, this has made me much more aware of the dangers, however he will be off the lead when safe to do so.



Wishing your wife a speedy recovery

Thanks, although we're not married.
Y

spike241

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

Why cant she work from home? OP your trying it on pal big style.

The OP has already said they are trying to arrange this, part time.
Not everyone would be able to though, I certainly wouldn't have that option.

Andyclockwise

jc808 wrote: »

sounds like you were running too fast,
In fact according to the App on my phone we were going 4.1mph, which is 1mph faster than walking speed. My partner tried to avoid the dog, but TBH she could have been standing still, have you ever been hit by a 40kg animal travelling at speed?


what would have happened if a small dog had have popped out and you trod on it, injuring or killing it?


I would be devastated, and want to do anything to help, as I believe would most people, including this dog owner.

or a small child had appeared and you ran into it, injuring him/ her?

zero sympathy, tough lesson for you, when out running, if you see a gate or opening, alleyway, road etc, be prepared to slow down and pay attention

i personally hope you get nothing out of this

Well that's what we hope too, we're not trying to make a profit here.

Andyclockwise

spike241 wrote: »

The OP has already said they are trying to arrange this, part time.
Not everyone would be able to though, I certainly wouldn't have that option.

Agree, she is a NHS Community nurse, so unless all the patients come to us, this could be a tricky one.