Woman hurt by friend’s dog wins £115,000
Judge rules that pensioner was ‘negligent’ in handing over control of dog who broke friend’s arm and hip
A WOMAN has won £115,000 from her former friend after she broke her arm and hip when she was pulled off her feet by her German Shepherd.
Kay Benstead, 60, a social worker, was dragged to the ground by Anne Finnie’s three-year-old dog, Lily, on a walk in Feb 2012 in Enfield’s Trent Park. Yesterday a judge found Mrs Finnie, 76, had been “negligent” in handling the excitable mutt and ordered her to pay her friend damages.
Judge Peter Wulwick said Mrs Benstead and Mrs Finnie had known each other “for some years” as work colleagues.
They sometimes met to walk their dogs together in the park and would stop for a coffee and food in the café. But the pensioner should have known the “young, large and lively” German Shepherd might injure her dog-wary friend when she handed it over to go buy drinks.
Mrs Finnie, a German Shepherdlover, had owned dogs for years, but Mrs Benstead was a more “cautious” owner, said the judge. She had to be persuaded to buy Freya, her cocker spaniel-poodle mix, which was her first dog and weighed only 11 kilos.
On the other hand, Lily was a much bigger and more excitable dog, weighing in at three times more than Freya. Mrs Benstead had only ever stroked Lily once, when she was a puppy, and would never have agreed to hold such a large animal, she said in her evidence.
Disaster struck during the 2012 walk when the pair decided to stop at the park café and Mrs Finnie “thrust” the more boisterous Lily’s lead into her friend’s hand. The loop tightened around Mrs Benstead’s fingers and Lily almost immediately began to strain at the lead, pulling her back.
“The weight and force of the dog was too great and she fell over,” said the judge. Mrs Benstead told the court she felt immense pain when the dog began to pull the lead, twisting her arm behind her back.
In her damages claim, she said Mrs Finnie had not asked her to take the dog, and if she had, she would have refused. But in her evidence during the trial this week, Mrs Finnie claimed her friend “had a chance to say no” before the dog was handed over.
Ruling against the pensioner, Judge Wulwick said she had “simply thrust” the lead into Mrs Benstead’s hand from behind.
All she said was “take” or “hold”, without making sure Lily was under control, and began to walk off.
The judge said Mrs Finnie was “negligent” in the way she handed over the dog’s lead, and ordered Mrs Finnie to pay Mrs Benstead £115,000 compensation, plus her costs of the case, which could run as high as another £100,000.