Claim by driver after dog hit

boliston

Liability is based solely on negligence and has nothing to do with who owns the dog.
Things that would need to be considered would be the type of road. For example a narrow lane with a fast car would mean the driver is negligent for not driving to the conditions and you should raise a counterclaim. My OH walks dogs for a living and can testify that narrow lanes are lethal due to the speed people "race" along them without any consideration for others and has had a few close calls where people, often in 4x4 vehicles drive at a speed where they simply cannot stop if anything is in the road.

Crazy_Jamie

FutureGirl wrote: »

If this was a person that had just ran out in the road, the driver would be at fault.

Not unless the driver had been negligent.

iammumtoone

Why is this anything to do you with you?

I dont have a dog but have a child if he got hit by a car it would be

a) driver at fault for not looking, driving to road conditions
b) person who was with my child at the time for not looking after him correctly*

* children/dogs can run out unexpectedly into roads, sometimes its just not anyone's fault but I certainly wouldn't consider it to be my fault if I was not there.

teddysmum

There was a case some years ago, where an accident was caused when a child was in charge of a dog. In this case the owner was found at fault as they shouldn't have relied on a young child. However, as has been said, a dog walker should have insurance, as, presumably, they are running a business.


People do try it on with damage claims though.


My son had a bump with another car and his car had very slight bumper damage, but the other party claimed quite widespread damage.


My son left the car with me, for inspection by his insurer's rep and he told me that he thought it impossible for my son's car to have caused the damage claimed , as his car was one known to crumple very easily.


After this,we were amazed to find that the insurers, Zurich, actually met the person's claim.

RuthnJasper

As it was a road accident involving an injury, albeit to a dog (SO glad he is OK) oughtn't the driver to have a Police incident number? It is my understanding that failure to report hitting a person, horse or dog whilst driving is an offence. Has he even reported it to HIS insurers as opposed to just this solicitor?

DavidF

Hmm I would be wanting to talk to this mans insurers before proceeding. If the dog walker was just a "friend" walking their dog then they may not have insurance ect. I would have thought it would then come down to blame - was the driver of the car going too fast to be able to make an emergency stop ? I mean that may sound ridiculous but then the angle the car owner seems to have taken is equally ridiculous. If the driver wants to claim then he should go the accepted route for what is a road traffic incident and go through his own insurance company who would then contact either you or your dog walkers insurance company and proceed accordingly.
This could easily turn out to be 50/50 or even no fault for the poor dog/walker/you.
OP call your doggy insurance company and ask what their opinion is.

Quentin

DavidF wrote: »

Hmm I would be wanting to talk to this mans insurers before proceeding... If the driver wants to claim then he should go the accepted route for what is a road traffic incident and go through his own insurance company who would then contact either you or your dog walkers insurance company and proceed accordingly.......

No, this isn't the only acceptable way to raise a claim at all.


eg. what do you do if you have no insurance cover for damage to your own car?


It is quite acceptable to claim directly off the third party if you consider them to blame.


(In this case, of course, the driver is trying to claim off the dogs owner rather than the person responsible for the dog at the time !)


(And not a good idea to make direct contact with the claimant when a solicitor is dealing with case!)

Tammykitty

your pet insurance should cover 3rd party liability for the dog regardless of who was with the dog.


Is your dog walker a business or someone doing you a favour? If the dog walker is a business, I would expect them to pay up and be liable for this,


£1900 for damage to a car is probably not that much and could be reasonable.


Tell him to direct his claim to your insurers (if you are not using the dog walkers insurance)who are used to dealing with these things, and will know to ask for quotes etc.


The £1900 could cover damage to the car plus a hire car for when its getting fixed.

Aretnap

RuthnJasper wrote: »

As it was a road accident involving an injury, albeit to a dog (SO glad he is OK) oughtn't the driver to have a Police incident number? It is my understanding that failure to report hitting a person, horse or dog whilst driving is an offence.

No, or at least not necessarily.

Where an accident only involves damage to property (an animal is treated in the same way as property) the driver is only obliged to stop and give his name and address to a suitable person (presumably the person in charge of the dog). If he does that there's no further obligation to report the accident to the police. He only has to report it if he doesn't give his name and address, eg because he couldn't find the person in charge of the dog.

If the accident also involves injury to a person then there's also a duty to show your insurance certificate to a suitable person - but if you do that you don't actually have to report the accident. It's possible (in theory at least, probably not in practice) to have a fatal road accident without involving the police.

Has he even reported it to HIS insurers as opposed to just this solicitor?

Who knows? But if he hasn't that's for him and his insurers to worry about - it wouldn't affect any claim he has against the OP, or the dog walker.

RuthnJasper

Aretnap wrote: »

No, or at least not necessarily.

Where an accident only involves damage to property (an animal is treated in the same way as property) the driver is only obliged to stop and give his name and address to a suitable person (presumably the person in charge of the dog). If he does that there's no further obligation to report the accident to the police. He only has to report it if he doesn't give his name and address, eg because he couldn't find the person in charge of the dog.

If the accident also involves injury to a person then there's also a duty to show your insurance certificate to a suitable person - but if you do that you don't actually have to report the accident. It's possible (in theory at least, probably not in practice) to have a fatal road accident without involving the police.

Who knows? But if he hasn't that's for him and his insurers to worry about - it wouldn't affect any claim he has against the OP, or the dog walker.

Fair enough. Thank you for the clarification.

Thinking back, I remember being out for a walk with a friend when her neighbour's dog ran out into the path of a car. The driver was able to brake and the dog took a very gentle tap which knocked it over, but without any injuries. The driver looked over his car and said it was fine (as it would be after a bumper's glancing blow to a small dog). We offered to be witnesses but he told us it wasn't necessary. The next day he put a note through the owner's dog saying that the dog had caused over £4000-worth of damage to his car and she had better pay him!

My friend and I again offered to be witnesses, but for her. I think she paid the driver in the end (she didn't have pet insurance), as he became VERY aggressive and she was scared.

Having worked at an emergency vets practice for 3+ years, I can't recommend having pet insurance highly enough!

Have a good weekend. :-)