Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: Rights against neighbor with dog that chronically barks.

Have you tried filing a complaint with the police for disturbance of the peace? I know when I had a noisy dog in the yard behind my house I called the pound several times. When the owner received his third warning he was fined $200. He tried to fight it in Court, but he lost. I haven't heard his dog since. You could also try filing a suit in small claims court. Talk to the Small Claims court advisor and see what you can sue under. Just the fact that you filed a lawsuit and the guy has to pay a filing fee to answer the suit might get him to shut the dog up! If Animal Control has limited power find out what they can do about the problem. See if there is anything you can do through them such as filing a formal complaint. Also, if the dog barks at night call them. They may be able to do something when the dog is barking at all hours of the night. If they can at least start knocking on the door of the owner's house at 3 in the morning in order to get him to take his dog inside he might get the hint. This also worked for me. The guy finally got fed up with having someone knock on his door every night at 3 am that he started keeping his dog inside at night. These are the steps I took to get the owner to shut his dog up, I hope I have given you some ideas.

Good luck.

John Hayes, Esq.