pit bull attacked my broker showing me house - Posted by cork horner

import · October 14, 2009, 2:54pm

Posted by Steve on October 29, 2009 at 17:04:10:

So your partner was attacked by this dog, what are his damages? How bad was he hurt? Did he go to the hospital? Need Surgery? Follow up care? What is he trying to get out of this?

import · October 14, 2009, 2:54pm

Posted by cork horner on October 14, 2009 at 14:54:45:

Here it is legal beagles: My broker partner was attacked by a pit bull while showing me a house under construction owned by a bank.

I’m thinking/wondering who lawyers/insurance will handle this?

Do we give the listing agent first shot at resolving this with the owner bank?

So we just turn it over to a consignment real estate litigation lawyer?

Ideas?

we are thinking the lender/insurance company would just prefer to give us the unfinished house on the market for 180k, instead of lengthy civil suit.
Police and animal control were contacted for the record.

cork horner
san diego
direct email:
corkhorner@msn.com

import · October 17, 2009, 6:49am

Re: pit bull attacked my broker showing me house - Posted by Frank Chin

Posted by Frank Chin on October 17, 2009 at 06:49:04:

Interesting thread. Sorry to hear about your partner, and this issue with foreclosed homes, and the bank’s liability had always intrigued me.

First, the home I live in now was a property bought from a bank at a public auction some years back after the builder went bankrupt. What I noticed in the paperwork, deeding the property to me, was the bank NEVER at any time held title to the property, for the entire period the property was in foreclosure.

It was deeded to the bankruptcy trustee, then to the bank, then to me, dated the day of the closing. The language on the deed too was intriguing. Normally, there’s a chain of title, Grantor to Grantee through a series of deeds. Mine read the bank is deeding me the property from the bankruptcy trustee, whose deed “will be recorded”.

I wondered for “what period of time” the bank ever held title?? A milisecond??

I was intrigued by this because the house two doors down was also foreclosed, not sold till six months after I purchased mine, and those six months went through a brutal winter. Yet, snow and ice was never cleaned up, I myself had slipped and fallen there, as had many others, and I never thought of going after the bank. I was thinking to myself, they’re probably clever enough not to hold title to the place anyway.

The best bet is to sue the dog owner, if he’s smart enough to have homeowners insurance not excluding “pit bulls” which some policies have nowadays.

As to the house in the homeowner name that someone raised. They could deed it to some LLC all they want, but in this case, the dogowner himself would be sued in any case. Then, if there is a judgment the dogowner, with that, you go after the owner’s assets, including the LLC. An LLC would not help here.

In fact, deeding the place to the LLC may in itself raise more insurance issues. If the home is in the homeowners name, chances are homeowner policy may cover the dogbite, unless pitbulls are excluded. If the insurance was through an LLC, as the LLC is not the dogowner, I fail to see how the LLC liability insurance would cover it.

The advantage of owning your own home in your own name includes the use homestead exemptions in many states as well.

Frank Chin

import · October 15, 2009, 7:55pm

Re: pit bull attacked my broker showing me house - Posted by DJ-nyc

Posted by DJ-nyc on October 15, 2009 at 19:55:13:

I say sue the Lender and the Dog Owner. The Dog is probably theirs to keep the vandals from destroying the property. I’m interested to see if they give you the house though these banks will sick the dog on their own momma! Hope your partner is okay.
DJ-nyc

import · October 14, 2009, 3:42pm

Re: pit bull attacked my broker showing me house - Posted by Keith (OH)

Posted by Keith (OH) on October 14, 2009 at 15:42:59:

My guess would be the dog owner is first in line for damges not the lender who owns the house. Dog owner was negligent not the property owner (unless it was the bank’s dog) Just because the action happened on the bank’s property wouldn’t make them liable I wouldn’t think, but I’m not an attorney so I’ll be interested to see other posts.

Keith

import · October 17, 2009, 5:08pm

Re: pit bull attacked my broker showing me house - Posted by cork horner

Posted by cork horner on October 17, 2009 at 17:08:19:

thank you for all your comments.
We are continuing our approach to bringing a civil suit against the neighbors whose pit bulls were running loose on the bank owned prop.

Will our attorney name the bank in the lawsuit? Don’t know yet. The popular consensus is the property where it occured [owned by a bank] is not liable as the neighbors dogs were trespassing.

cork horner

import · October 15, 2009, 1:06pm

Re: pit bull attacked my broker showing me house - Posted by Mark (SDCA)

Posted by Mark (SDCA) on October 15, 2009 at 13:06:42:

Agreeing… hard to see what the bank did wrong (besides lending to the wrong person and having deep pockets).

I think we can assume the dog is NOT the bank’s and just because the dog’s owner (if it even HAS an owner) lets it run free on the bank’s property… shrug.

import · February 3, 2010, 1:26pm

Re: pit bull attacked my broker showing me house - Posted by anonymous

Posted by anonymous on February 03, 2010 at 14:26:52:

I hope your friend only gets paid for the medical bills. Most injury lawsuits are over paid and make the insurance premium for everyone skyrocketing. Only the lawyers are rich in process. The system is really screwed up.

import · October 15, 2009, 10:37pm

Re: pit bull attacked my broker showing me house - Posted by cork horner

Posted by cork horner on October 15, 2009 at 22:37:04:

thank you for your consideratye responses.
The conclusions reached so far is ‘the bank would not be liable’ for dogs trespassing on their property. go figure.

I often wonder if and when lenders or other private parties in ownership erect security fences for ‘security’. This bank owned property does not.

The bank does not have the dogs there for any reason, they belong to a neighbor who lets them run free so they can go into the atttack mode whenever they are so motivated.

Frankly, I don’t trust any dogs as they are still animals subject to abrupt dangerous behavior. Pit bulls in my estimated earned their reputation.

We dealt with it by calling 911, which brought the police who called animal control. ‘good bye, dog’. But, the owners have ‘the right’ to pick up their wayward dog by paying fines/fees.

FYI, this happened in San Diego. Imo, in certain areas of the city there are those who take the position that Pit Bulls are better protection than the police dept.

I am currently seeking a civil actions lawyer to bring suit for being attacked and causing not only duress but physical injury. My objective is to find a successful ‘dog attack’ lawyer who will take the case on contingency.

Ironically, the people who own the house where the dogs live hold title in their personal names and it is free anc clear. Interesting, isn’t it.

cork horner