Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Illinois
wrong dog
On nov 27,2004 there was a crash by my house, the man that was in the truck hit a utility pole was taken by ambulance to hospital and damaged his truck. Now on may 27,2005 a summons has been claimrd against me to appear before the court. thr summons states
1. on or about nov27 both myself and plaintiff were residents.
2the dog was in rodway causing the driver to swerve injuring himself and wreck his truck. anyways we are not the only people in this part of the country that has the same looking dog . also there are manyt dogs that roam all the time, our dog was in the house i have witness to that and why was i never questioned by the police at the time. i went to accident site electricity was knocked out. he does have a laywer, may i handle this case without laywer? can't afford one
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: wrong dog
First: if you are served with summons and are being sued based on whatever allegation(s), you MUST answer the suit, file an appearance and your answer should deny everything.
Two: Should you do this yourself? If you have home owner insurance, ABSOLUTELY not. Because of two reasons: a) you are not trained in the law and will be easily fall victim of your own lack of knowledge and in all likelihood will lose based on some technicality; and b) if you do not notify your insurance company, any judgment that may be entered against you will NOT be covered by the insurance because all insurance contracts say that if you do not notify them of a claim against you and judgment is entered as the result, you are on your own...
Three: Plaintiff has the burden of proof. If you have reliable witnesses who can say, under oath, and positively saw your dog in your house (or anywhere else aside from on the street as alleged by the plaintiff) you will win your case--although you must answer the complaint, file defenses, go to court and take the deposition of the witnesses, and then if the plaintiff still insists file your motion for summary judgment which then should be granted by the Court.
I hope this helps...
Nima Taradji
Re: wrong dog
Whether you CAN handle the case without a lawyer is a hard question to answer. If you are well educated in the law and have the time and energy necessary to defend your self, and if the judge is tolerant and patient, AND the plaintiff's lawyer doesn't beat you to death with procedural items, you CAN do it. The burden is on the plaintiff to prove the case, and he has to prove the dog a) caused the wreck and b) was your responsibility.
The question is, should you? Typically not. I can do my own plumbing at my house. However, if I screw up, I can always hire a plumber in and he can, for enough money, fix the problem. You only get one shot in court, and can't necessarily hire a lawyer to clean up behind you.
If you have homeowner's insurance, you needn't handle this yourself- your premiums buy legal defense as well as potentially pay judgments.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
