Looking for legal help in FL
 

Does anyone know where i can find law answers for FL. My baby was pulled out of his fence by a large dog and his injuries were to great to try to save him. How does one find out a replacement value of a Yorkie? In my mind there is no price for replacement for him. From my understanding in FL you can ask for replacement cost and medical bills. I have spoke to a few lawyers who say they cant take this case but that does not mean I have no case. I plan to go to small claims court but need to find out what I can do

I am so sorry for your loss. I dont have any answers for you as I live in Canada I'm sure someone will come along will something more.

Did you call the police when it happend?

There is a lolice report and an animal control report

How much did you pay for him?

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?

I had this happen to me in MI 20 years ago. I had no fence and that did not matter, their dog was not restrained and did damage. My dog was loose but ON my property and did not do damage. I was lucky because they were willing to do something, their homeowners insurance covered many things and their agent was also a neighbor who helped with everything

1. I only paid $500.00 for my yorkie, but to replace him from a reputable breeder was $1,200.00 so I got that,
2. My dog was about 4 and had been fixed, most legit contracts call for that, this time I got a female, and got an estimate from the vet on the cost, got reimbursed for that.
3. Puppies need shots and at least one vet visit, once again got estimate for that and was give the money for that
4. My dog lived about 10 hours and there were vet bills, was reimbursed for that.

I don't know your neighbors but before you try to find an attorney see what they are willing to do, do they own their home if so, ask them to check with their homeowners policy, but of course there is often a large deductible. If you hire an attorney it will be expensive and the cost might outweigh what you can recoup. But what you should ask for is based on replacement cost not what you paid. Everything I collected went to the cost of the new dog because as you know with a puppy there is generally more expenses than with a dog about 4 or so. Good luck going through this sucks big time, but I knew I wanted a new dog and felt strongly that I should not be out the money but they should. If they broke your window or hit your car they would have to pay so it should be the same with a pet.

more in answer to your question before you go to small claims court. Find some breeders and ask them to give you their price in writing along with their contract hopefully you find one that in order to receive AKC papers requires getting the dog fixed and that you need to take the dog to the vet within so many days after taking him home.

Go to three vets and ask for a written estimate on the cost to spay or neuter a yorkie puppy though the first year. This will means all their shots, stool sample, and the vet visits. Then if you took your pup to the vet when it was injured have that bill as well.

Those are the costs you should be looking for reimbursement on

Animal control already gave the neighbors 3 citations. No tags, running at large and i cant remember what the other was. They admitted this happened on our property and that there dog did this. They never leash these dogs they own. This is not the first issue we have had with their german shepards. This is the reason i will go to court. This was a preventable loss. I had previous conversations with them about keeping their dogs off my property.

Thank you for the information and some things i didnt think of. Its much appreciated.

It was a picket fence we put up just for crickett it kept him in for 8 years. We didnt think our fence had to keep other dogs out at the time. Our whole yard was not fenced just a quarter of our back yard. The attack dog had to come 10 ft on our property to get to our fence. We have a leash law.

I would also ask for pain and suffering in an amount enough to put up a very tall fence.

I have been told pets are property in FL there is no pain and suffering for property. In reality he is not property he is family. I thought about adding a fence to keep the unleashed dogs out, since i suspect that even though the dogs are on leash now they will be off again when this blows over for them.

I know how to get 3 vet estamates on costs. I have no idea how or where to find reputable breaders. How do I know when I find one? Do they have a license or something to make sure ?

you best to get a good quality yorkie is to use this site and finds some breeders in FL, they may or may not have dogs at the moment but could be helpful in letting you know what their pricing is like for a pet quality yorkie

Is your name Robin, if so small world someone just tagged me on Facebook asking if I could help you, but I am in MI so don't about FL breeders. Once you start calling a few from the Yorkie Club they might give you some other names, the people in the club will be mostly breeders that breed for show so be forewarned they are often fussy on who they sell their puppies to.

Thanks I am Robin. You have a nice evening.