Dog park lawsuit

The family whose pet was killed at a city dog park last November has made a statement of claim against the owner of the dog allegedly responsible for the attack and the City of Thunder Bay for just under $50,000.

“The Perrier family is devastated by the loss of their little family pet Gus,” said the family’s lawyer Christopher Watkins. “They feel, as dog lovers, no personal hatred towards Jimi … They do, however, sincerely believe the situation should never have happened and cannot happen to others in the future.”

Eighteen-year-old Ravin Perrier brought her chihuahua-mix dog Gus to the Winnipeg Avenue off-leash dog park on Nov. 9 when her dog was allegedly attacked and killed by a dog believed to be a pit bull-mix.
 
The park has a contained area for dogs of all sizes and another area that is size-restricted for smaller dogs. Both dogs were on the size-restricted side of the park when the incident occurred.

“It is the Perrier family’s position that (Jimi’s owners and the city) were negligent and their negligence led to poor helpless little Gus’ loss and a direct attack on the Perrier family’s daughter who was bitten in her attempt to save Gus and the emotional shock they’ve suffered together as a family through the loss of their pet and also for the cremation of poor little Gus as well,” said Watkins.

The damages listed on the statement of claim include general damages in the amount of $1,500, tort of assault in the amount of $5,000 and nervous shock and loss of companion care and guidance tort of neglect in the amount of $42,500.

The claim states the city was negligent because they were not properly supervising or implement the dog park rules and that the owner of Jimi failed to properly supervise their dog, provide proper training and keep it in the proper area of the park.

Watkins said the family is not seeking the destruction of Jimi; they don’t blame the dog.

“They understand there is an overriding duty of care that the owner of Jimi and that the park in this case were setup in a way that this was unfortunately bound to happen,” he said. “But with proper care it should have never happened.”

He added the family wants to make sure nothing like this happens again.