Trial Needed to Determine If Landlord Responsible for Attack by Tenant's Dog

Tioga County visitors sued tenant and tenant's landlord, after their daughter was attacked and injured by tenants' dog. The child's parent also suffered emotional distress when forced to rescue the child from the dog. Landlord asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial, claiming that it had no notice of the claimed vicious propensities of tenants' dog and that a zone-of-danger claim couldn't be made by the child's parents. The court ruled for the plaintiffs and also found an agency relationship between landlord and tenants. Landlord asked the court for renewal of their motion to dismiss, which the court denied.

Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord was in fact seeking reargument, not renewal, and failed to supply any argument for its request. And landlord failed to present a reasonable justification for whatever prior failing by the court was at issue. There were questions regarding the facts that required a trial. Tenants' former roommates had testified in pretrial questioning that the dog, a mastiff pitbull mix that was rescued from an abusive owner, was aggressive and known to growl and bare its teeth. Tenants had expressed concern that the dog would turn against them. When neighbors approached, the dog would stand at the end of a chain on its hind legs aggressively barking until it choked itself. The attack was unprovoked, and the dog caused extensive damage to the child's face.

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Carlucci v. Dowd: Index No. 535530, 2023 NY Slip Op 02572 (App. Div. 3 Dept.; 5/11/23; Garry, PJ, Clark, Aarons, Reynolds, Fitzgerald, Ceresia, JJ