Jury Awards $5.4 Million to Woman Bitten by Shelter Dog With a Documented Bite History
After trial: The jury put 12.5 percent of the fault on Horta, and California law reduces her recovery by that share, so this ranks at the $4.725 million net of her fault (decisions rule 15); the reports give only the $5.4 million award. No appeal or other post-trial reduction has been reported.
Won by Greene Broillet & Wheeler.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury awarded Genice Horta, 51, $5.4 million after a Belgian Malinois with a documented bite history severely injured her right hand and arm at the East Valley Animal Shelter on Sept. 23, 2020. After a 10-day trial, jurors assigned 62.5 percent of fault to the City of Los Angeles, 25 percent to the rescue group and 12.5 percent to Horta. She underwent six surgeries and has permanent damage.
What happened
On Sept. 23, 2020, Genice Horta went to the East Valley Animal Shelter in Los Angeles to pick up a dog. A rescue group had hired her to drive a Belgian Malinois named Maximus to Arizona, where he was headed for placement.
Shelter records on Maximus described a dog that bit and snapped at people walking past his enclosure, and they carried a warning to use extreme caution. Earlier bites had reportedly sent two people to the hospital, and Horta's lawyers told jurors the dog had previously bitten a teenager and a shelter employee. According to Horta's account, the warning she received was that Maximus had 'kennel anxiety.' She was not told about his bite history.
Horta offered the dog a treat containing trazodone, an anti-anxiety medication. Maximus lunged and bit her right hand and arm. A shelter employee testified that he had told her not to approach the dog with the treat and had tried to restrain the animal.
The injuries were severe. Horta underwent six surgeries, including repairs to bones and nerves in the arm, and court records describe permanent damage. She sued more than three years before the case reached a jury, alleging that the city and the rescue organizations involved failed to warn her about what the dog had done before.
The case was tried over 10 days in Los Angeles County Superior Court, with Ivan Puchalt as Horta's attorney. The jury awarded $5.4 million and divided responsibility three ways: 62.5 percent to the City of Los Angeles, 25 percent to the rescue group and 12.5 percent to Horta herself. Puchalt said afterward that the case 'revealed a series of serious and preventable mistakes' in how the dog's bite history was handled and in the adoption and control of a dangerous animal.
One rescue organization, HIT Living Foundation, issued a statement saying it had been involved only in the dog's release and never had physical custody of Maximus. It also noted that the verdict form did not ask whether anyone was its employee. The City Attorney's Office had not responded to requests for comment when the verdict was reported. The verdict was the third reported payout in recent years over claims that Los Angeles animal shelters failed to warn about dangerous dogs.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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