I'm very sorry for your loss. I do hope you get some justice out of this.
I live in Florida as well and, though I'm not very educated when it comes to matters of the law, I do have some questions that may help a bit.
1. What exactly is your fence like? Chain-link? Wooden? Picket? Was the fence broken in any way? How was it possible for the larger dog to grab your smaller dog and pull it through the fence? Do you have a picket fence that has wider slots (say, 3 inches or more) that would allow this?
2. Is the other dog a neighbor's dog living next door to you, or is it a dog that was randomly roaming the streets? Possibly a dog walking off-leash (or on-leash?) with its owner?
If your fence is not properly maintained and/or has wide slots, and if the dog is a neighbor's dog, that could be used against you in court, and you may not even have a case at all. They would most likely consider it negligence on your part. If you have a well-maintained fence without wide slots, and the dog is a neighbor's dog, you have a case, but it may be difficult. If you have a well-maintained fence without wide slots, and the dog is a random off-leash dog, you have an easy case. Then again, if your fence is well-maintained and does not have wide slots, how did the larger dog get to your small dog? Is it possible it could have jumped the fence? |