A Vancouver woman who sued her friends after being bitten in the face by their rescue dog at a 2017 dinner party had her case dismissed by the B.C. Supreme Court earlier this month.
Justice Maria Morellato ruled Feb. 1 that roommates Erin Berry and Sophie Anderson took numerous steps to train their dog 鈥淏ones鈥� and that they couldn鈥檛 have known he would attack their friend Linda Evans on the night of the incident.
Berry and Anderson got Bones from a rescue organization in the spring of 2017. The year-and-a-half old mixed breed dog was originally from Thailand and was missing one of its front legs.
The roommates admitted that they did face some issues with Bones leading up to the dinner party incident, including him nipping friends鈥� ankles during a trip to the Sunshine Coast, nipping someone鈥檚 shoes at a softball game, nipping other dogs at the dog park, biting another dog鈥檚 ear during that dog鈥檚 birthday party, and biting Berry鈥檚 father over a 鈥渃heese toasty sandwich.鈥�
In response, Berry and Anderson said they took Bones to two trainers and a veterinarian to get help, which they said improved his behaviour. They also stopped taking Bones to dog parks and had an appointment booked with a behaviourist when the dinner party bite happened.
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On Nov. 11, 2017, Berry and Anderson had a small group of friends over for dinner. All the friends testified that the evening went well, and that they had no concerns about Bones鈥� behaviour.
One friend said, 鈥淗e was a perfect angel. He was so good.鈥�
When the friends got up to leave though, Evans went over to give Bones a belly rub goodbye and he suddenly jumped up and bit her in the face.
鈥淚 just 鈥� I just jerked backwards, like, really quickly. I just put my hands right up to my face鈥here was, like, the feeling of blood and then I kind of took them down to look, and that鈥檚 when I knew this was bad,鈥� Evans testified.
A later hospital discharge record said Evans sustained a 3-inch C-shaped cut to her forehead and 2-inch cut to the left side of her face.
Berry and Anderson said they consulted with experts on what to do and decided to euthanize Bones as a result.
In a text to the two the day after the bite, Evans said there was no one to blame and that she took responsibility for her own actions. In her lawsuit filed years later though, Evans claimed Berry and Anderson should have been aware that Bones had a propensity towards violence and that they didn鈥檛 take reasonable care to prevent Evans鈥� injury.
In her , Morellato disagreed. She said the evidence didn鈥檛 suggest Bones had a propensity toward violence and that Berry and Anderson had taken numerous steps to train their dog to behave better.
Morellato dismissed Evans鈥� claim.
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jane.skrypnek@blackpress.ca
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