Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: dog injury

What, if anything, did they know about your dog and the likelihood that it might run out of the yard? Did you have any prior discussions with the landscape co. about this? Did you yourself know that the dog might run away?

I think these are the kinds of questions that a Small Claims Court judge might ask you.

If the facts indicate that this was an unexpected emergency, and the gardeners were just trying to recover the dog for you, without any warning that it had a tendency to run off, you would probably lose a claim for damages.

On the other hand, if you had told the gardeners about the dog's propensity to run off, and they carelessly left the gate open against your instructions, you might have a good chance of winning. The jurisdictional limit of the Small Claims Court is now $7,500, so your claim could be pursued in that venue (which can be done without hiring a lawyer, since neither side can be represented in court with an attorney--though you can still get advice from one prior to filing or going into court.)

Re: dog injury

It would seem the gardners were negligent and you could make a claim against them.