Plaintiff, fleeing in terror from four pound wiener dog, obtains $130K judgment! Court of appeals says no, reverses and renders!

When Outlaw returned to the counter with the sugar, she began to sob.

In the case of Penny Pinchers vs. Outlaw, the Court of Appeals has vindicated the honor of dachshunds everywhere.

The manager of the local Penny Pinchers store took her puppy Sophie to work. Sophie was a dachshund that weighed in at four pounds one ounce and was all of four months old.

To protect the puppy from customers, there was a little peg board barrier set up.

The plaintiff, a Mrs. Outlaw, apparently possessed of both a lifelong terror of wiener dogs (well, of dogs), and hip problems, heard frantic yapping behind her.

She fled in terror and found herself pinned against the freezer section when the manager plucked up the puppy and asked Mrs. Outlaw if she was ok. At this point, Outlaw had not even seen the dog, but only heard it bark.

Outlaw, who’d had prior hip surgery, thereafter had some more, allegedly as a result of the near-encounter with the wiener dog. She filed suit: “Outlaw alleged that Penny Pinchers negligently failed to (1) maintain the premises in a safe condition, (2) provide proper restraint of the dog, and (3) warn customers of the dog’s presence.” The case went to a jury: “The jury found Penny Pinchers 70% liable and Outlaw 30% liable for Outlaw’s injuries. Outlaw was awarded $130,000.”

The court’s analysis was brief:

Here, the dispute is whether the presence of the dog in the store created a dangerous condition. Outlaw, who claims that Sophie barked at and chased her, argues that Sophie was a dangerous condition. Penny Pinchers disagrees and says it had no reason to believe that Sophie’s presence in the store created any danger. Because Sophie had never exhibited any dangerous propensities, Penny Pinchers claims that it could not and should not have known of any dangerous condition.

While this is not a traditional “dog-bite” case, we find it instructive that the supreme court has held that dogs are not dangerous per se.

So, the court ruled, Sophie the puppy didn’t just get her one bite: She got her one bark. Reversed and rendered, case over.

Phillip Thomas, who noted this case first, also seems amused by it.