I mean, what, what did you learn, um, when you filed the claim? And, and, um, and given that, what was your strategy?

So with, with dog attack cases, the, the, the first real issue the, the injured person faces is whether there is going to be someone on the other side that has money to, to p- you know, pay the compensation for the damages.

And so the personal injury lawyer's really looking to see if there is insurance that will cover the dog owner, uh, because if there isn't insurance, you know, the, the injured person is likely just chasing paper, right? Getting, potentially getting a judgment that is, is worth the paper it's written on.

So, you know, obviously the, the defendants here owned a home, so I was fairly confident that they would have insurance that would respond to the claim.

And, you know, insurance companies have, have lawyers that are, are very experienced, uh, have, you know, are very intelligent, know the defenses, you know, that need to be, to be, uh, brought forward.

Um, and in this, in this case, um, there were similarities to a precedent case, um, by the Court of Appeal where they found somebody who didn't own the dog to be an owner, and therefore, under the Dog Owner's Liability Act, the, the owner that the court made into an owner was not allowed to sue another owner for damages under the, the Dog Owner's Liability Act.

And, and you wanna proceed under the Dog Owner's Liability Act because it creates strict liability, and all the injured person has to do is, is prove the attack and, and the damages flowing from it.

Um, did you feel like, you know, you had the judge on your side? What was that day like? [laughs]

Can you tell our listeners briefly what happened that day?

So Ms. Nigro was hired by the dog owners to initially walk the dog, uh, but the dog had undergone surgery to remove nails from its paws.

So the instructions from the owner had changed.

Instead of walking the dog outside the home, uh, Ms. Nigro was to play with the dog in the home and let it out in, in the front or, or backyard to use the washroom.

And, um, the owner of the dog had instructed Ms. Nigro to put these boots, little booties on the dog's paws if it was muddy outside.

So on the, on the date of the attack, um, because it was muddy outside, Ms. Nigro attempted to put a bootie on the dog, and then the dog just went crazy.

She suffered a mauling and, and suffered injuries to various parts of her body.

Now, two Ontario courts have ruled your client cannot sue because she is considered an owner.