A man who suffered the amputation of a phalanx due to a dog bite is compensated

The Fifth Court of Civil and Commercial Appeals of the city of Córdoba ratified a civil sentence imposed on the owner of a dog that bit a man on the left hand and caused the traumatic amputation of a phalanx of the fifth finger.

The victim was attacked when he was trying to separate his dog from the animal that belongs to the defendant, reported the Córdoba Justice website.

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Assault

The attack occurred when the plaintiff was walking his toy poodle and was attacked by a larger dog (similar to a pitbull), which belonged to the owner of a car dealership. At that moment, the plaintiff tried to protect his dog and received a bite on his left hand.

The defendant claimed that the risky situation had been created by the victim himself, since he failed to use the leash, entered the store with a dog that started a fight with the store's dog and put his hand in the animal's mouth.

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Judgment

But the Court considered that these circumstances "lack legal efficacy to revoke the sentence" because some were not even proven in the case.

The members Joaquín Ferrer (author of the vote), Leonardo González Zamar and Claudia Zalazar explained that " the mere allusion lacking evidentiary support to the alleged omission of the use of the leash of the actor's dog, of the latter's entry into the premises where the dog that injured the actor was or the beginning of the fight by the former, has no capacity to fracture the casual link ."

The ruling states that the Civil and Commercial Code presumes that liability for damages caused by animals falls on their owner or guardian and that they can only be exempted from liability if they prove that there was an external cause that breaks the causal link between the damage and the act of the animal.

" The legislation assumes the risky nature of the animal and - therefore - the conduct of its owner or guardian when keeping it. Such presumption comes from the very nature of the animal, characterized by its irrational, impulsive and instinctive behavior ," the ruling emphasizes.

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Arguments

The Court also considered that, although the plaintiffs' attempt to separate the animals represents a dangerous situation, it is reasonable, given the seriousness of the events, the urgency and magnitude of these, " since the life of their pet was at risk ."

The judges then continued their argument: “ The alleged assumption or acceptance of risks by the victim cannot be invoked to excuse the application of an objective attribution factor or the responsibility of the person causing the damage . Therefore, the law admits that exposure to a risky situation does not imply consenting to the possible damages that may be caused by it or the waiver of the right to be compensated,” argued the judges.

The court stressed that for the victim's actions to exclude the liability of the animal's owner or guardian, it must not be a mere voluntary exposure to a dangerous situation, referred to as a 'generic and abstract' risk; but rather it must be " a reckless and negligent exposure to a specific danger, which is capable of becoming an adequate cause or co-cause of the damage ."

Source : Justice of Córdoba .