Sure accidents happen all the time, but the decision that needs to made is, was this an ordinary accident, or was there any negligence involved? Was this a simple slip of the hand? Or were there not precautions that should have been taken to prevent this? Lastly, was the groomer, in any way negligent, in her duties? One thing, after the "accident" she was grossly negligent in not reporting this to the dog's owner. What if the dog was put to bed afterward, and the wound continued to bleed all night? This sort of thing should always be reported. The courts have something called punitive damages that go above actual damages and they are used in cases where the judge feels like the defendant had not taken reasonable precautions to prevent such a thing from happening, such as properly restraining the dog. Punitive damages are also very useful in making businesses responsible to their clients. In the past, many companies found it cheaper to pay off angry consumers because the "actual" damages" didn't really hurt their bottom line, and so their shoddy practices would continue, however when judges added punitive damages the companies in question decided a policy change was in order. I'm not suggesting she should sue, I think she will have more information when she talks to her vet, but the company should do more than return the fees she paid. I don't know what's fair in a case like this, but company policy should change, and customers should always be informed in cases of injury.
I don't know if there is a state licensing board that you could report them to as well, but a good company would bend over backwards apologizing, and inform you what they were going to do, so this would never happen to anybody again. I realize many people sue only for the monetary gain; however, many others sue to protect others from the same situation. |