DEFENDANTS’ DEPOSITION TESTIMONY IN THIS DOG-BITE CASE RAISED QUESTIONS OF FACT ABOUT DEFENDANTS’ PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF THE DOG’S VICIOUS PROPENSITIES, SUPREME COURT REVERSED (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined defendants’ motion for summary judgment in this dog-bite case should not have been granted:

We conclude that defendants failed to meet their initial burden of establishing that they neither knew nor should have known that the dog had any vicious propensities … . In support of their motion, defendants submitted their deposition testimony. Defendant Ron Bush admitted at his deposition that defendants had purchased the dog in part for protection and that he considered a dog’s bark to act like an “alarm.” Moreover, defendant Patricia Bush testified that, when the dog was running toward plaintiff at the time of the incident, she directed plaintiff to “[s]tand still.” Both defendants admitted that there were three “Beware of Dog” signs posted on their premises. Thus, taken together, defendants’ own submissions raise a triable issue of fact whether defendants had prior knowledge of the dog’s vicious propensities … . Opderbeck v Bush, 2019 NY Slip Op 09224, Fourth Dept 12-20-19