My dog was hit by a contractor in my driveway..... Is his insurance able to cover my bills?

[hockeybc69]

Hard topic to describe.

We got hit hard by hail on July 1st.

We have had contractors in and out trying to sell their business.

Yesterday a guy pulled in my driveway and hit my 15 month old yellow lab. (The little girl in my avatar actually)

She got her back leg pinned under his tire when he stopped. My son saw it happen and I cant even describe the look on his poor face when he came running through the door. And when he said, "Brie just got hit by a truck?"; I cant describe what happened to me.

Brie came out of this with very minimal damage. I have no clue how, but she has no broken bones. Just lacerations and abrasions on the inside of her right rear leg.

The guy was just distraught and I tried to comfort him to say my dog ran out of the woods.

In the same breath, now I am wondering if I can at least get my bills paid for.

We are probably looking at about $400-$500 when this is all said and done. Not major, but Brie was on my property when he pulled in on my driveway and hit her about 50 ft up my driveway.

So this is nothing about road right-of-ways or even on the township road.

Should/could their insurance or bonding cover my bills???

I cant believe her. She is using the leg, and isnt showing severe distress. To imagine that her leg was pinned under his front tire and he had to back up to get her out,,,, just isnt something I can comprehend.

Soooo soooo lucky for her.

My poor son wont even talk about it. He told me last night to drop it and just stared at the floor.

Knowing how close he is with her just makes it so much more special that she is doing so good. He spent all day with her today and babied her.

So anyway, back on topic. What can I do???

[Dave S]

I would have to say yes, his insurance would cover the bills.

[Ufatz]

Call t he man and ask him if he will help you cover the bills. If he was upset and truly sorry about hitting her and if he is any kind of guy at all he will come up with something to help you.

If he is hesitant or gets snarly just gently mention "possibly your insurance coverage might help."

His attitude might change.

[Northlander]

Im guessing if your dog wasnt on a leash or runner you wont get much out of the deal.

[hockeybc69]

Quote:

Im guessing if your dog wasnt on a leash or runner you wont get much out of the deal.

She was on my property 100%.

He came in to try and sell me his services. She just ran out to greet him, but a little too aggressively...

I'll call the main office today and see what they say.

[rundrave]

you might want to check with your city ordinance and see what they define as "at large" and if its prohibited

here is what the city I used live has for ordinance:

At large means:

(1) An animal when off or away from the premises and not under the control of the owner, possessor, keeper, agent, servant, or a member of his immediate family by a leash.

(2) An animal when on the premises of the owner, possessor, keeper, agent, or servant if not attended by a competent person unless the animal is chained, restrained, enclosed, or confined in a manner preventing it from leaving the premises.

Running at large prohibited.

Except on property designated by the city as an animal off-leash area, it shall be unlawful for any person to have any animal which is owned, kept, harbored, or allowed to be habitually in or upon the premises occupied by him or under his or their control to be at large and to go in or upon the private premises of others or upon any public property.

I dont think stuff like this is usually strictly enforced, but I had issues with neighbors and stuff like that is the main reason I now live on an acreage out in the country.

[CJH]

I say 50/50. Even though he was on your property, you didn't have the dog under your control. IE: Not on a leash or in a fenced in area (I am assuming).

From a moral perspective, I would view it as my mistake for not having the dog under control. It may not be what you want to hear, but that's how I would view it, unless I am missing something.

Sorry your dog got hit and hope everything turns out fine.

[BoxMN]

My two cents (and worth half of that!) says be happy your dog is okay, pay the vet, and decide if you want to use that contractor. We all know how dogs run in front of cars/trucks/atvs/etc. and I wonder how the dumb things (yes I have and love these dumb things too) don't get run over more. I would chalk it up to your dog now hopefully knowing that trucks driving can hurt, and it might even have saved it's life if it stays a bit farther away in the future.

Glad your dog is okay. Good luck.

[LightningBG]

We had a dog get hit by a truck. We had to put him down. We determined it was a mistake made by the dog and it paid the price. But it was sad. Good to here your dog is doing well.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Ask your insurance person about it.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

If I were driving the truck you wouldn't even need to ask me! I'm surprised he didn't volunteer to pay at the time.

[hockeybc69]

I can see some of the points that my dog ran in front of the truck. But in the same breath I am tired of all these contractors coming to the door too. So it rubs me a bit the wrong way that I have people breathing down my back.

I also can see the point that it could have been anyone(including myself) that this could have happened to.

But they are trying to get business, and they have insurance for their company, so I thought it was something to inquire about before calling them to see what some of you had to say. I was even hoping someone on here might be "in the know".

I called the contractor main office today. They asked me to send reciepts and they are checkign with their insurance coverage. They were very apologetic about it. As most everyone would be anyway.

So we'll see.

In the end, if nothing comes of it, so be it. I have my dog!

[JohnMickish]

Stop screwing around and call your homeowners insurance guy, tell him what happened and ask who owns the bills. Let us know what he says.

[hanson]

I wanna throw a curve ball here...

I'm absolutely fed up with door to door solicitation... business, religious, political, non-profit, you name it. I don't buy stuff spur of the moment, and definitely not from somebody pressuring me at my door.

I did some research on my city's ordinances, and solicitors are required to register with the city. Religious and Political are exempt for this which really cheeses me.

You can post 'No Solicitation' on your door and they are required to respect this, or you can turn them in.

In your situation, I'd be interested in what your city's ordinances are on door to door sales and whether or not this particular contractor was following city ordinance. If your city was like my city, he'd have no business being on your property if he wasn't registered with the city to solicit.

Most cities have their City Code listed online and if you are familiar with city codes, doesn't take too long to locate that type of ordinance. Quick call to the city would then tell you if he was registered to do door to door sales. In the case of a storm chaser, I'm thinking unlikely.

I'm just saying... he may have been breaking the law (depending on your city ordinances) driving into your driveway in the first place.

[Down Deep]

If the contractor represented a licensed company they are required to have business insurance. He is also required to have either personal or business auto insurance. Both will pay for your loss. Your other alternative is to claim the loss to your homeowners insurance, but you will be subject to any deductible your policy requires. IMO is that for $500 there is no way the contractor's insurance company is going to try to make a comparative negligence claim. Just have all your bills ready to submit to the insurance company.

[hockeybc69]

Hey MNfishinguy,

I like Hansons and Down deeps response a tad better than yours...

Work on your delivery a tad. LOL

[analyzer]

A few points here.

I seldom pull in someone's driveway. Not when I go to the relatives for a birthday party, and sure as hell not when I'm selling something.

The exception is when the street in front of their house doesn't allow on-street parking. I don't know what your situation is.

I've done a ton of door to door sales, along with some door to door collection work for comcast, and you are just flat out asking for trouble pulling into someone's driveway.

My car/truck might drip some oil, and now they're going to ask me to pay for a new driveway. I might clip their prize rose bush. Etc.

I worked for Waste Management. We had a residential driver that would pull up a long private drive in Eden Prairie to pick up their trash. One time he hit a little patch of ice, and damaged a tree. They had a long curvy driveway with HUNDREDS of trees. Yet WM still had to pay the homeowner $3000 in restitution for that single tree.

I don't pull in driveways.

Having said that. I worked for a local roofing company for a very short while. They had an A-plus rating with the better business bureau. It was one of their advertising strengths. It's not like they never screw anything up, they do, but they stand behind their work, and fix everything when someone has a complaint. They go overboard to protect their rating. If anyone so much as whispers they are dissatisfied, have damaged flowers/bushes, a flat tire from a nail, you name it, that contractor takes care of them.

If this is a reputable company, I'm certain they will want to protect their name, and sure as hell don't want it blasted all over the internet that they hit your dog. I can almost guarantee you, that even if their insurance won't pay for it, they will be taking care of the bill. Check their BBB rating and see if they have an A rating. If they do, and they won't pay you, you can politely remind them that they'd probably like to keep that A rating intact. I'm pretty darn certain they'll come around. It's not worth having a [PoorWordUsage] off homeowner spewing negatives on the internet (I'm not talking about the little discussion here either) for $500. They'll cough up. And, incidentally, I believe they should.

[analyzer]

On that note, I'd like to point out the one time when I was working for Aagard Sanitation, before WM. I had instruction to pick up some garbage containers. I stopped by the house, the containers were in the garage, but it was shut. One of the kids out front told me "mom's out back". I walked around the side of the house to find mom, and got bit behind the knee by their dog. Mom was standing a few feet away at the time. My pants were torn, and the dog drew blood. I didn't need stitches, and told her not to worry about it. But boy did that leg lock up over the next couple days with swelling. She's pretty lucky I wasn't the sue happy type.

I'm sorry about your dog by the way. I don't mean in any way to sound callous. I've fallen in love with my daughters little bichon Yorkie, and can't imagine how distraught I'd be if she got hit by a car.

[JohnMickish]

Hey MNfishinguy,

I like Hansons and Down deeps response a tad better than yours...

Work on your delivery a tad. LOL

I was just saying that if you really want to know the answer, your homeowners insurance agent has the answer. You posted a questions and got several different answers based on the info (or lack of info) given. Without knowing what your city/township/county laws on on loose dogs and solisitors it's just speculation and hearsay. I didn't mean to sound like a jackwagon or anything, just if you really want to find out call the people that know.

FWIW, I am glad your dog is doing well, and storm chaser contractors are a PITA. Please let us know what the answer is. I think this would all fall under your homeowners insurance but that's just speculation.

[walleyeseeker]

I would say that unless this was a local contractor, push all the way to have them pay for this. We had a storm go through on July 1 in my town and now we are overrun with out of town scam artists posing as contractors. These smooth talkers go door to door and baffle the people with b.s. to get the jobs. Then they bring in their crew of illegal aliens to do the job. If this is the same kind of contractor that visited you, make them pay. Once they have everyone's money, they are gone. All of the money they make leaves your community. Make sure they have to leave a little behind for your inconvience and your dog's pain.

[Tom7227]

I see this thing as a toss up. The basis for having to pay damages is the question of liability. The dog owner has a problem because the dog wasn't in control and be some description the dog 'dashed out' to great the person, not something that was foreseeable. The driver wasn't doing anything wrong while driving and the issue of whether he was licensed to do contracting or go door to door is irrelevant. The person who works for WM experience is based more on corporate good will and a big company being willing to pay for something they could perhaps avoid but they chose to take care of things without hassles to customers. A single guy trying to drum up business as a roofer or whatever is less likely to have that attitude.

As for contacting your insurance company - get serious folks. They most likely wouldn't cover the loss and even if they did your deductible plus a ding on your record simply isn't worth it. I suspect the vet bill is less than $500 and it just wouldn't pay in the long run to try and get it covered under your homeowners.

[Whoaru99]

What are the damages you're trying to recover?

Sounds like the dog is fine with only some very minor scrapes....unless I missed something???

[HooknHorns]

Sorry about your pup, hope she'll be ok. Not that this is the same scenario.

I had a friend whose dog ran out into the gravel road while beieng prepared to load up. Since his dog was at large, he ended up paying the ladies damage for the car.

I wouldn't push this with the contractor until you talk to your insurance company.

[hockeybc69]

Quote:

What are the damages you're trying to recover?

My vet bills of $400-$500. He came to sell me his business, and I dont want to have to shell out this money on top of my deductible to fix my house..... As I stated before, if nothing happens with this, at least my dog is doing better than I could have ever imagined.

I called my insurance company and they said there is nothing on my side that would cover it.

She did say as stated above, if the dog had run out on the road, been hit and caused car damage I would be liable.

They had no idea what would be covered from a contractor perspective.

I go back and forth on this "in control" thing. My dog was on my property. I bought 8 acres of land for the family to enjoy including my dogs. My dog was on my property where they have been trained to stay on. I would suffice it to say my dogs are trained better than some kids in the neighborhood. And thats not a joke.

So if a kid popped out of the woods and was hit by this guy on my driveway, what would happen with that?

Waiting to hear from the contractor on a final answer still.

[hockeybc69]

I should also note,,,, this contractor is not repairing my house. I already had one lined up....

So they came in, squashed my dog, and left.

(just a small attempt at humor there)

[Whoaru99]

So if a kid popped out of the woods and was hit by this guy on my driveway, what would happen with that?

I don't know, but my opinion is that it would depend on who was viewed as neglegent.

That said, it's also my opinion that the same rules of who pays probably don't apply regardless of how much we love our pets. Worst case your medical insurance would pay for the child then your insurance company may go for subrogation with the driver's insurance company. In the case of the dog, your insurance has already stated the dog (apparently) isn't covered by your policy.

I hope it works out, but unless you're claiming neglegence and have some proof of that (long skid marks or whatever) on the part of the driver I don't really think they're obligated to pay.