Okay, here is what happened.
I wanted to take my son to a church event held at the Anaheim Angel Stadium (Harvest Crusade) this weekend. The event was free. I booked a room at a Pet-Friendly Hilton Hotel for 2 nights. We arrived on Friday, the event was on Saturday evening and we were to leave on Sunday.
On Saturday afternoon my son took his Chihuahua down to pee. Cujo (his Chi) was on a leash and he was passing a girl (around 12 - 13 years old) who had a Yorkie in her arms and another dog (around 15 -20 lbs) on a makeshift leash (it was just a leash wrapped around the dog's neck) on the ground. As he passed the girl, the dog on the ground started going after Cujo. The dog gets off the leash and my son tries kicking it away from Cujo and starts yelling at the girl to "get her dog". The little girl just freezes and does nothing. Well, her dog gets ahold of Cujo and bites him around the neck and shakes him. Finally, my son gets Cujo away from the other dog, but he is bleeding pretty severely. My son calls me and I run down, and the girl's father shows up as well. He asks how our dog is and I tell him that I need to get him to a vet asap. He says, okay well my room number is XXX and contact him when we get back.
Well Cujo had some pretty severe lacerations and the vet had to do surgery on him and place a drain from his back all the way to the front of his chest. The bill was $750.
When I get back to the hotel, the Hilton couldn't "get involved" according to the manager, but could call the guy's room for me (big deal). He comes down and now starts to tell me that he doesn't think that they are responsible for the entire bill. Says that he has impartial witnesses that saw the entire incident and feels that we are partially to blame. Ok, so I tell him to give the witnesses my room number and to please contact me so that I can hear what they have to say. In the meantime, per vet's instructions, someone must stay with Cujo for the rest of the evening to keep an eye on his condition. So I miss the event (sent my son though who was pretty shaken up by now). I wait until 8pm and never receive any calls from anyone. I call the guy's room at 8:15pm, 9pm and 10pm with no answer. Left him a message to please get in touch with me so that we can settle this. My son gets back from the event and tells me that he saw the guy in the lobby and when the guy saw him, he turned the other way. Great!!
I'm extremely angry at this point and call animal control because I had no other way of getting this person's information (he never gave me his name or any info whatsoever). The next morning, animal control officer comes out and finds this guy and lets him know that I am filing a report against him. He is from OK and we are in CA.
Here are my questions:
1. should I pursue him through small claims and if so, is it a hard thing to do considering that he is from another state?
2. should I instead file with my homeowners insurance and let them go after him?
3. even though the event was free, my only purpose for booking rooms at the Anaheim Hilton was in order to attend the event. Can I sue him for the one night's room charges since I had to stay with Cujo and miss the event?
4. shouldn't anyone walking a dog in an area where other dogs are present be expected to be able to control their dog at all times. Considering that this 12/13 year old girl had 2 dogs, should she have been allowed to walk them by herself?
Anyone know the answers to these questions or have any advice? I still have to add up the other vet bills we are incurring since we had to take Cujo to our local vet for the follow up treatment. TIA!!!
I wanted to take my son to a church event held at the Anaheim Angel Stadium (Harvest Crusade) this weekend. The event was free. I booked a room at a Pet-Friendly Hilton Hotel for 2 nights. We arrived on Friday, the event was on Saturday evening and we were to leave on Sunday.
On Saturday afternoon my son took his Chihuahua down to pee. Cujo (his Chi) was on a leash and he was passing a girl (around 12 - 13 years old) who had a Yorkie in her arms and another dog (around 15 -20 lbs) on a makeshift leash (it was just a leash wrapped around the dog's neck) on the ground. As he passed the girl, the dog on the ground started going after Cujo. The dog gets off the leash and my son tries kicking it away from Cujo and starts yelling at the girl to "get her dog". The little girl just freezes and does nothing. Well, her dog gets ahold of Cujo and bites him around the neck and shakes him. Finally, my son gets Cujo away from the other dog, but he is bleeding pretty severely. My son calls me and I run down, and the girl's father shows up as well. He asks how our dog is and I tell him that I need to get him to a vet asap. He says, okay well my room number is XXX and contact him when we get back.
Well Cujo had some pretty severe lacerations and the vet had to do surgery on him and place a drain from his back all the way to the front of his chest. The bill was $750.
When I get back to the hotel, the Hilton couldn't "get involved" according to the manager, but could call the guy's room for me (big deal). He comes down and now starts to tell me that he doesn't think that they are responsible for the entire bill. Says that he has impartial witnesses that saw the entire incident and feels that we are partially to blame. Ok, so I tell him to give the witnesses my room number and to please contact me so that I can hear what they have to say. In the meantime, per vet's instructions, someone must stay with Cujo for the rest of the evening to keep an eye on his condition. So I miss the event (sent my son though who was pretty shaken up by now). I wait until 8pm and never receive any calls from anyone. I call the guy's room at 8:15pm, 9pm and 10pm with no answer. Left him a message to please get in touch with me so that we can settle this. My son gets back from the event and tells me that he saw the guy in the lobby and when the guy saw him, he turned the other way. Great!!
I'm extremely angry at this point and call animal control because I had no other way of getting this person's information (he never gave me his name or any info whatsoever). The next morning, animal control officer comes out and finds this guy and lets him know that I am filing a report against him. He is from OK and we are in CA.
Here are my questions:
1. should I pursue him through small claims and if so, is it a hard thing to do considering that he is from another state?
2. should I instead file with my homeowners insurance and let them go after him?
3. even though the event was free, my only purpose for booking rooms at the Anaheim Hilton was in order to attend the event. Can I sue him for the one night's room charges since I had to stay with Cujo and miss the event?
4. shouldn't anyone walking a dog in an area where other dogs are present be expected to be able to control their dog at all times. Considering that this 12/13 year old girl had 2 dogs, should she have been allowed to walk them by herself?
Anyone know the answers to these questions or have any advice? I still have to add up the other vet bills we are incurring since we had to take Cujo to our local vet for the follow up treatment. TIA!!!