The dog walker, the injured executive, and allegations of harassment and exortion
ROBERT MURISON had just come to the end of his daily walk with pet dog Meg when his world was turned upside down.
He was suddenly sent flying, apparently by another dog bounding into him, and landed in a heap on the ground, suffering a dislocated kneecap that has left him unable to walk.
And after the 47-year-old executive tried to obtain the dog owner’s insurance details, he found himself accused of harassment and blackmail.
His sorry tale raises questions over the liability of dog owners at a time when growing numbers of busy professionals are employing walkers to exercise their pets.
“All dog walkers and owners should be insured, precisely in case this kind of thing happens,” said Mr Murison, who also wants to see a registration scheme for the walkers.
He was injured while exercising his German pointer on Hackney Marshes, in east London. As he returned to the car park with Meg on her lead, he noticed two walkers with what appeared to be eight dogs in their care.
He says that as he was about to open his car boot to let Meg jump in, he found himself thrown into the air and on to the ground. “I looked up and there was this other German pointer, who I later discovered was called Ruger, standing over me with Meg barking at him. I think he was only being playful but he had bounded into me and sent me flying,” he said.
He says that when he asked Ruger’s walker, Adam Baxter, if he was covered by insurance Mr Baxter said he was not, but assured him that Ruger was covered by his owners and gave him their number. The couple, Allison Hollern and her partner Mark Wakefield, are directors of City insurance brokerage firms.
When Mr Murison, a seeds specialist with a multinational company, contacted Ms Hollern on the afternoon of the accident last month she was, in his words, “mortified and really upset” and asked him to keep her informed of his medical progress.
He had taken a cab after the accident to nearby Homerton Hospital, where he was told that he had a dislocated kneecap and bruised ligaments.
Mr Murison said he emailed Ms Hollern a certificate of sickness issued by his GP, and she said she would forward this to her insurance firm. But 10 days later, the couple wrote to Mr Murison accusing him of lying and attempting to blackmail and harass them.
Mr Wakefield, who claims that Mr Murison tripped over his own dog, accused him of “bombarding” him and his partner with “a series of fabrications and outright lies”.
In what has become an increasingly bitter dispute Ms Hollern emailed him, stating: “I sympathise if you are indeed injured but frankly we do not believe your story about your injury nor do we believe we are at fault. We think this is a play for either insurance money or blackmail and I have advised the police accordingly.”
She claimed: “You tripped/ placed yourself down on the ground, over your own dog.”
Mr Murison, who says he has since spent £600 on a mobility scooter and £250 on taxi fares, said: “I wasn’t trying to extort money from them, I only wanted their insurance details so I could let the insurers sort the matter out and reimburse the expenses I had incurred.
“The hostile response I got from Ruger’s owners makes me suspect they don’t have liability insurance for him.”
If that is indeed the case, it is despite Ms Hollern, 37, being a director of Lockton Companies, an insurance broker with offices in the City and in the US, which provides personal indemnity insurance and risk management. Mr Wakefield is a director of Willis, which specialises in company insurance and boasts of “protecting your executives and your company’s key assets against risk of litigation”.
Shocked by the couple’s response, Mr Murison has now instructed a lawyer.
He had reported the original incident to police, who investigated whether there had been a breach of the Dangerous Dogs Act. They are understood to be examining the car park’s CCTV footage.
For their part Ms Hollern and Mr Wakefield reported Mr Murison to the police for harassment, but officers told her there appeared to be no grounds for a complaint.
Yesterday Mr Murison said: “There should be some form of registration for dog walkers – who do it commercially after all – so that when council dog wardens see them out and about they can check their credentials, particularly when they are looking after lots of dogs, or large breeds – like the one who knocked me over.”
He added: “What happens to me raises some serious questions about people’s responsibilities for the dogs in their care. I feel massively responsible for Meg when I’m out walking her.” Ms Hollern admitted that Ruger’s pet insurance only covered him when he was with his owners but she believed Mr Baxter was insured for all the dogs he walks.
Ms Hollern said: “We don’t think we have any legal liability here in the first place.”
She added: “He [Mr Murison] has not provided us with proof of his injuries. We have instructed our lawyers.”
Mr Baxter, who runs a company called Running With Dogs, said: “I stand by the statement Allison Hollern has sent to you and know that myself and Ruger are not in any way liable for Mr Murison’s alleged injuries. I am fully insured however do not feel that my insurance is applicable in this instance.”