Puppy Hit By Careless Driver

MsCAD

On 27th February, my dog walker took my 7 month old Puggle puppy Tony out for his lunchtime walk as I was in work all day.
Around 2pm I looked at my phone and saw numerous missed calls from a number I did not recognise, my phone started ringing again instantly. I answered, and a woman asked me 'Are you the dog owner?', I was quite confused and replied that yes I owned a Puggle puppy. The woman continued to describe my dog to me and the harness he was wearing. I said 'Yes, yes that is my dog'. She then told me she was sorry and had to pull him off the road as cars were continuously driving around him, in shock I asked 'Is he dead', to which she replied 'Oh I am so sorry sweetie, he is gone'. My heart sank to my stomach and I was screaming crying, I did not know what to do. I rang my dog walker who was frantically trying to find Tony, still under the impression that he had just run off. I told her what had happened and she broke down. She phoned the woman who had contacted me, and brought Tony to my vet where I met her. We hugged and cried for a good while. She was so distraught. My poor Tony was lying on the table dead and I had no idea who had done this to him. Who would leave a poor defenceless animal on the road like that.
We made the arrangements to have Tony cremated.
Two days after the incident I received a call, the man introduced himself as <snip>, the man who had hit my dog. <snip> was asking me questions about what type of dog I had, wanted to know my full name and mentioned he knew my family in Wexford, I have no family in Wexford. I found his tone and manner very sly. After he got all that information from me he asked if we had insurance, to which I said we did, thinking that any humane person would offer to pay the vet bills and cover the cost of cremation, but no, <snip> asked for me to pay for a new radiator for his car, because, in his exact words, 'It's a Mercedes you know'. I was enraged by this and burst into tears. I told <snip> not to contact me, and that all future contact should be through my partner. I phoned my partner to tell him what <snip> had said to me and asked him to phone him himself. My partner used to work in insurance so I knew he would know what to do. He was so angry with how we were being treated by this cold hearted man. My partner phoned <snip> and requested that he text over his insurance details so we can look into this with our insurance company. We received no reply from <snip> after that phonecall.
Yesterday 6th April, 5 weeks after the event, I was sitting in my office and a woman walked in and asked me my name, to which I told her. She said she had a letter for me from <snip>, I was shocked that he had the cheek to have a third party to come into my place of work, in front of my colleagues to hand me this letter. This was extremely invasive. I never told <snip> where I worked, I did tell him the locality I worked in, how he found where I worked is beyond me.
The letter stated that he had the repairs done to his car and attached an invoice dated on the day of the accident for €673.86. This work involved 1 fog light, 1 radiator and engine coolant refill. It is beyond me how my puppy, who was the size of a cat and could still be held like a baby, could cause such extensive damage to a Mercedes. The mechanic that <snip> brought his also had the same surname, which I find suspicious. <snip> is based in Dundrum, where there are numerous mechanics in the locality. <snip> brought his car out to Croke Park to have the work carried out by a family member I suspect. Which makes me think maybe there was already damage to his car and he is trying to pin this on us.
I am aware that in this situation we are not liable as we were not in control of the dog at the time of the accident.
I do not agree with how this man has approached the matter in such a cold hearted fashion.
Anyones advice on this matter is much appreciated.

Bandana boy

Sorry for your loss
If you had pet insurance pass the details to your insurance company and let them deal with <snip>

Ms Doubtfire1

So so sorry to hear this. I'd be rather inclined to say he's trying to pull a fast one. Have a chat with your insurance but I'd say if he hasn't reported to accident to the gardai at the time he's going to be hard pushed to claim for the repairs now.I see no legal bases/proof to what he's saying. Damage to his car could have been done by anyone.

5rtytry56

"Google" <snip> online.. see if you can find his facebook etc.

knucklehead6

While I have sympathy for you, your thread title is sensationalist in the least, and should be changed.

I'd also remove the name of <snip> from the post. <snip> was a guy who escaped from Dublin castle in the 1500's and inspired a challenge hike held every January.

MsCAD

I did try that. I think I found him. I do have his address now which he stated on the letter I received yesterday.

MsCAD

His name is <snip>
I feel my title speaks the truth as he was careless enough to leave my dog on the road and not contact me till 2 days after the incident. He had time to take my number from my dogs collar and left him there for someone else to deal with.

Mr McBoatface

The man is not at fault here and there is nothing to prove your claim he was a careless driver. I'd respectfully suggest for your own good you remove the man's name and details from your post.

The careless person here was your dog walker. Any damage done is a result of her losing control of the dog.

High end cars can be expensive to repair , all cars are but more so with high end ones. Repair cost can include replacement cars while the car is repaired.

The man should not be out of pocket or labeled as careless when he was not at fault but your dog walker.

Sorry for your loss but it's clouded your judgement

EagererBeaver

Where has the driver been careless? How do you know what way the accident happened?

As for the bill you've been presented, talk to your insurer - this should have been the first thing you did. Assuming the bill hasn't been backed up by any sort of legal action, ignore it for now. Make sure you have a log of all the events, particularly someone visiting your workplace.

Mr McBoatface

EagererBeaver wrote: »

Where has the driver been careless? How do you know what way the accident happened?

As for the bill you've been presented, talk to your insurer - this should have been the first thing you did. Assuming the bill hasn't been backed up by any sort of legal action, ignore it for now. Make sure you have a log of all the events, particularly someone visiting your workplace.

Or redirect to the dog walkers insurance company.

skallywag

You start your thread by stating that the driver was careless, but I see no evidence whatsoever in the content of the thread which points towards the driver being careless?

EagererBeaver

MsCAD wrote: »

I feel my title speaks the truth as he was careless enough to leave my dog on the road and not contact me till 2 days after the incident.

You've said the dog was hit by a careless driver but have offered no evidence there was any careless driving. It doesn't sound like you've any witness who could back that claim up. The dog was hit in the middle of the road where cars are supposed to be and dogs are not.

MsCAD

You start your thread by stating that the driver was careless, but I see no evidence whatsoever in the content of the thread which points towards the driver being careless?

The driver was careless as he had enough time to stop and take my number off the dogs collar and then drive off to leave him there for someone else to deal with.

DBB

Folks, I have removed repeated mentions of the man's name from the op and several other posts.
Please do not post identifying information on this thread.
Thanks,
DBB

Hellrazer

mScAD--Mention this mans name again in this thread and Ill ban you from the forum.

EagererBeaver

MsCAD wrote: »

The driver was careless as he had enough time to stop and take my number off the dogs collar and then drive off to leave him there for someone else to deal with.

That's the opposite of careless driving. He hit the dog and stopped appropriately. His subsequent actions, if they are as you've described, are dubious and unfortunate for you, but nothing to do with careless driving.

Ms Doubtfire1

Mr McBoatface wrote: »

The man is not at fault here and there is nothing to prove your claim he was a careless driver. I'd respectfully suggest for your own good you remove the man's name and details from your post.

The careless person here was your dog walker. Any damage done is a result of her losing control of the dog.

High end cars can be expensive to repair , all cars are but more so with high end ones. Repair cost can include replacement cars while the car is repaired.

The man should not be out of pocket or labeled as careless when he was not at fault but your dog walker.

Sorry for your loss but it's clouded you judgement

Incorrect. Get legal advise op, but I'm pretty clear on this: The accident hasn't been reported to the gardai, driver drove off. 2 days later he contacts owner and 5 weeks later he comes with a bill created by a relative...
Sorry, but that wouldn't fly with me.

TheQuietFella

The OP should be writing for Mills & Boon!

skallywag

OP, I'm sorry but you need to face up to your responsibility here.

If your dog ran out into the road completely out of control then you should be thanking your lucky stars that something more serious did not happen, e.g. imagine a scenario where a car swerves to miss the dog and is then involved in an accident, etc?

EagererBeaver

Legal advice should be secondary to talking to the insurance parties involved. You could rack up fees on a case that is anything but clear cut. You have said yourself that he tried to get in touch with you and you told him not to contact you again.

As for him driving off, is there a legal responsibility to stop and report an incident involving a dog? You see plenty of cats dead in the middle of the road so i wonder if there's a difference for dogs.

deadlybuzzman

Maybe I'm remembering this wrong but is there not a requirement by a driver in that situation to report hitting an animal?

screamer

I had a dog hit by a car in a 30mph area and he sent her 80 feet along the road such was the speed he hit her at. Course he killed her outright and then came looking for 350 quid to fix his car. We had to pay that's the law unfortunately doesn't matter that he left her there or that he was lifting the road out of it with speed. He was lucky it was only a dog he hit......

Mr McBoatface

Ms Doubtfire1 wrote: »

Incorrect. Get legal advise op, but I'm pretty clear on this: The accident hasn't been reported to the gardai, driver drove off. 2 days later he contacts owner and 5 weeks later he comes with a bill created by a relative...
Sorry, but that wouldn't fly with me.

You're talking nonsense. The dog wasn't under control, not the man's fault. Any damage done is the result of this. There is no evidence to suggest a relative doctored a bill, the Surname now removed is common.

You've no idea what evidence the man has or if it was reported. Dash cam , photos at the scene, calls to the garda ..... you simply don't if the man has evidence of the accident. More than likely he has as he had the cope on to check the dogs collar for the owner info.

He was not at fault, the OP or her dogwalker should cover his costs.

Miaireland

I agree with the others I am afriad. You have no idea if the driver was careless or not. Your dog should have been under control. The fact he left the dog was horrible but does not prove that he was careless. Cars are costly to repair and you have no proof there was damage before hand. Pass he quote to your insurance and let them deal with it. I assume your dog walker has insurance, they (your insutance company )may seek a refund for her insurance.

tk123

I am aware that in this situation we are not liable as we were not in control of the dog at the time of the accident.

I'm very sorry for your loss .

You could argue that the dog walker is responsible I guess but did you sign anything to give her indemnity for damage caused?

Call your insurance company and report it to have on record.. Then call into the local Garda station and ask if it was reported and explain what happened - my guess is that he hasn't reported it because he doesn't want to go through his insurance company.

threetrees

I do not believe that the man needs to pay for his own repairs to his car when it was your dog who was out of control. Seek advice on the matter, citizens advice are pretty good and free. You can phone them. It is an unfortunate situation as a third party dog walker was supposed to be in charge of the dog.

pilly

Hang on though? Where is the proof that the dog did that damage to the car? If he simply drove off?

I would let him go to court OP

Mr McBoatface

pilly wrote: »

Hang on though? Where is the proof that the dog did that damage to the car? If he simply drove off?

I would let him go to court OP

He didnt drive off. He stop , he got the oweer info from the dogs collar.

deadlybuzzman

pilly wrote: »

Hang on though? Where is the proof that the dog did that damage to the car? If he simply drove off?

I would let him go to court OP

Exactly, the two day gap seems very strange. Even if the damage was caused by the dog what can he say if you or the insurance company said prove it?

pilly

Mr McBoatface wrote:

He didnt drive off. He stop , he got the oweer info from the dogs collar.

We're only guessing that.

honda boi

Is there proof of it being your dog that did the damage?
Very strange he only contacts 2 days later.

AvonEnniskerry

If your dog was on the road you are liable for the damage to the person's car that hit him. If anything be has more of a case against you posting private information about him on a public forum, admitting to the fact that you told him not to contact you again and have refused to pay damages. I'm sorry that your dog was hit but right now you need to settle his damages and try and claim back off the petsitter involved. Hopefully they will have insurance to cover such an event.

Gerry T

The driver could be at fault, what if it were a child that ran out, he takes the kids name, leaves him in the middle of the road and drives of. Then repairs his car and sends a bill....what a scum bag. He should be in control of his car. It's his fault in my opinion. Don't mind other posters with silly opinions blaming the Walker, she's partially to blame but not the main one.
If repairs are done before they were inspected I suspect he may not get a payment from any insurance Co.

EagererBeaver

honda boi wrote: »

Is there proof of it being your dog that did the damage?
Very strange he only contacts 2 days later.

I agree but there could be any number of perfectly valid reasons for it. He may have thought nothing of the damage for a couple of days until he got the car looked at, for example.

pilly

Hang on a second. Having just read the post again. He got the damage fixed the DAY it happened and turned up with an invoice.

Is no-one else smelling a scam because I am.

No way would I be paying. Off to court with him. He has no proof whatsoever.

eezipc

Originally Posted by Mr McBoatface
He didnt drive off. He stop , he got the oweer info from the dogs collar.
We're only guessing that.

If the driver did hit the dog, then the dog owner is liable. However, how do you know he did hit the dog? Couldn't a different car have hit the dog and drove off then this driver saw an opportunity to make a claim?
Either way, that driver is a bit of a cnut for taking the details from the dog collar and then leaving the dog in the road. Total p"""k.
I accidentally ran over a stray cat last night. He was still alive but at least I brought him home and gave him a bit of comfort before he died a couple of hours later. It's a very distressing thing to happen.

EagererBeaver

pilly wrote: »

Hang on a second. Having just read the post again. He got the damage fixed the DAY it happened and turned up with an invoice.

Is no-one else smelling a scam because I am.

No way would I be paying. Off to court with him. He has no proof whatsoever.

How do you know when the repairs were actually done? She clearly stated she got a letter looking payment on April 6th.

It does sound dubious to me, but that's not the real issue - her dog caused damage to his car and she would almost certainly be found liable. She has repeatedly claimed he was driving carelessly and offered no evidence. She is completely ignoring the her responsibilities and, worse, using the emotional impact of the accident to try and frame her arguement.

colm_mcm

Gerry T wrote: »

The driver could be at fault, what if it were a child that ran out, he takes the kids name, leaves hom in the middle of the road and drives of. Then repairs his car and sends a bill....what a scum bag. He should be incontrovertible of his car. It's his fault in my opinion. Don't mind other posters will silly opinions blaming the Walker, she's partially to blame but not the main one.
If repairs are done before they were inspected I suspect he may not get a payment from any insurance Co.

Children don't usually have name tags. Not around here anyway.
Are you really saying that knocking down a dog is the same as knocking down a child?

What about a cat? Would that be the same?

TheUnderfaker

Does the driver have insurance?

kylith

You are liable for damage done to a vehicle if it hits your dog, this is the way the law stands. However this man seems to have no proof that the damage to his car was done by your dog, so I would be inclined to tell him to prove it. I also agree that your dog walker's insurance should cover it, assuming that your dog walker is insured.

What would concern me more is the carelessness of your dog walker. Your dog apparently escapes, runs onto a road, allegedly causes an accident and you hear about it from a random stranger who picked him off the road?

screamer

Btw counter claim for the cost of your dog too.

emeldc

I arrived seconds after my own dog was knocked down. He was still alive but died in my arms. The woman that hit him threw her eyes up to heaven and drove off. At the time I was annoyed at her but when I gathered myself and thought about it later on, I was glad she drove off because I would have been liable for any damage, just as you are OP. However the driver hasn't handled it very well either. He should have called a Guard to witness the damage the damage to his car. I think he also should have called you from the scene. Pass it on to your insurance and let them deal with it.

EagererBeaver

screamer wrote: »

Btw counter claim for the cost of your dog too.

Good luck with that.

jimmycrackcorm

Gerry T wrote:

The driver could be at fault, what if it were a child that ran out, he takes the kids name, leaves hom in the middle of the road and drives of. Then repairs his car and sends a bill....what a scum bag. He should be incontrovertible of his car. It's his fault in my opinion. Don't mind other posters will silly opinions blaming the Walker, she's partially to blame but not the main one. If repairs are done before they were inspected I suspect he may not get a payment from any insurance Co.

There's no comparison in regard to a child. In some cases though the driver can be held at fault even if the child runs out. AFAIR there's a thread somewhere about such an instance where the driver was found at fault because he didn't anticipate the child crossing the road to relatives. However the law is very specific about animals.

It is totally the walkers fault. Especially when you consider that their job is to walk the dog on a lead. Shouldn't this thread be concentrating on why the dog wasn't?

The driver may our may not get an insurance payout from the op's insurer, but the odds are very heavily stacked in his favour in court.

alchemist33

Gerry T wrote: »

The driver could be at fault, what if it were a child that ran out, he takes the kids name, leaves hom in the middle of the road and drives of. Then repairs his car and sends a bill....what a scum bag. He should be incontrovertible of his car. It's his fault in my opinion. Don't mind other posters will silly opinions blaming the Walker, she's partially to blame but not the main one.
If repairs are done before they were inspected I suspect he may not get a payment from any insurance Co.

There was no child. You've called somebody a scumbag because of something that's happened in your head.

njs030

screamer wrote: »

Btw counter claim for the cost of your dog too.

That's not how it works.

Op sorry for your loss but your dog has to be under control at all times and he wasn't, you could let the driver go to court but the simple facts are he can prove damage to his car and probably has photos of the damage which could include hair and fur on his car.
Your dog was missing at the time. Without a doubt he will win and you will end up paying more.
It's hardly a scam when your dog was on the road at the time.

It's hard when your distressed but you are in the wrong here and you do need to face up to it, calling him a careless driver is wrong and unfair. The person you should be angry at is the dog walker who let him run off!!

Ms Doubtfire1

I really smell a rat...who's to say the driver noticed the just hit dog and already had damage to the car? stopped, picked up the number on the collar of a (quite rare) dog, goes, has his car repaired and claims of owner?
Na. Unless he can actually prove he hit the dog, I wouldn't give him the light of day.

AlanG

What is careless is that he got the repairs done before they could be assessed independently and did not report the issue before getting the repairs done.

If this is the driver who hit your dog then you are legally and morally responsible for the damage and there is no proof that he was driving carelessly.

I would think that he has destroyed the evidence (on his side) of the collision and therefore I would not pay him unless he can furnish some evidence or independent witnesses. I have never met anyone genuine who gets repairs done before contacting the relevant insurance companies. I would be pretty sure there is no way your insurance will pay out on this.

Shemale

How long was the dog missing?
DOes your boyfriend really work in insurance?

This man alleges the dog caused the damage to his car:

Does he have witnesses to the incident?
Has he reported the incident to the Gardai and his motor insurers, as per his obligations?
Has he advised where the vehicle can be inspected.

Under the RTA there is an obligation on the driver to drive with due care and attention people are assuming it was the actions of the dog, was the man on his mobile, was he over the middle of the road.

I am not sure if liabilty attaches to the owner of the "stray" dog, off memory the control of dogs act mentions damage or injuries to persons and/ or livestock caused by a stray dog, damage caused by a stray dog on private property but I am not sure about property in a public place.

If you have contents insurance you can ring your household insurance company and ask them if you have cover for this alleged incident.

marklazarcovic

if he needed his radiator fixed he couldn't drive the car without it being fixed, so same day repair is cheaper than claiming for a car rental whilst its sitting in the garage awaiting repairs, the dog was on the road,handler at fault,its the way it is. the poor dog lost its life because of it,pay the man and secure your property for the next dog.

super_furry

I’d want to see proof that it was your dog that caused the damage. I suspect he has none.