€38k award for dog attack
Lorraine Thompson yesterday told the court she had been visiting a friend, Lindsay, at Hampton Wood Rd, Hampton Wood, Finglas, Dublin, in June 2011, when the accident happened.
Ms Thompson said she had been walking to her car with her friend when the dog, a Great Dane, jumped in front of them and attacked her. She claimed the dog grabbed her right arm between its jaws and bit down on it.
She told her barrister, Dermot Francis Sheehan, that her sister, Pamela, was at the time living on a ground floor apartment close to where they had been standing, and she and Lindsay banged on her door, shouting to be let in.
Ms Thompson, of Marewood Crescent, Ballymun, Dublin, had freed herself from the dog’s jaws when her sister opened the door and her friend pushed her inside the apartment.
Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke heard gardaí were called and Ms Thompson was taken to the Mater Hospital in Dublin, where wounds to her right arm were cleaned and sutured.
She suffered pain and bruising to her back for several weeks and the wounds had left several scars on her arm. The court heard the dog was later put down.
Ms Thompson sued the owner of the apartment, William O’Dwyer, of Blackberry Lane, Delgany, Co Wicklow, for negligence and breach of duty.
She initially also sued the dog owner, Henry Freeman, with a previous address at Hampton Wood Rd, Hampton Wood, Finglas, but the court heard proceedings against him were being discontinued as he could not be traced.
Mr O’Dwyer, who denied liability in a full defence, said he was not aware that his tenant, Mr Freeman, had a dog in the apartment. His barrister, Sara Antoniotti, said the incident had been unfortunate, but had nothing to do with Mr O’Dwyer.
Following a suggestion by Judge Groarke to the parties to try and solve the matter, Mr Sheehan told the court that Ms Thompson’s claim had resolved. The judge struck out the case.
