SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN DOG ATTACK CASE

On January 22, 2025, Atlanta partners Carrie Christie and Courtney Norton obtained summary judgment in the Superior Court of Walton County, Georgia in a case involving personal injuries to a package delivery person who alleged that she was attacked by the plaintiff’s dogs. Although the plaintiff sought to impose liability under O.C.G.A. § 51-2-7, Georgia’s “vicious propensity” statute and O.C.G.A. § 4-8-21, asserting that the defendant knew or should have known their dogs had dangerous tendencies, the court agreed with Carrie Christie and her defense team that the plaintiff failed to present non-speculative evidence of any knowledge of the dogs’ vicious propensities and specifically found that the dogs’ playful jumping behavior, absent prior evidence of harm, did not create the requisite knowledge by the defendants of the propensity for harm.