Bobsled

So my friend was riding his bike on Coyote creek about 4:45PM on Friday when some dog owner thought he was all alone on the bike trail. So the dog owner decides to let his dog off the leash and the dog run right for my friend and knocks him off the bike. Friend ends up in the middle of the trail and bike ends up half way down into the river. Long story short my friend ends up with road rash on his elbow and hip, lot of aches and pains, and $1,200 worth of damage to 7 month old Scott CR1Pro according to LBS where he bought it.

Cops were call and police report was taken. What action can he take to get his bike fixed to condition before this dog body slammed him? I'm thinking small claims court or my friend's own home insurance (but maybe not the best option).

calamarichris

What was the dog owner's reaction? Did they volunteer to help pay for it, or were they hostile?
A police report was filed, yes? If the dog owner isn't cooperative, take the police report to a shyster and tell him or her he can have 20% of whatever can be pulled out of the dog owner's @$$. Physical pain, emotional trauma, lost work days--if the pet owner doesn't cooperate, I'd say they need to be puni$hed.

Bobsled

My friend said that while they (friend and dog owner) were waiting for the police, owner said something like "why are you making such a big deal?" My friend didn't deal with the guy after that. Friend was told by officer at the scene (Lakewood Sheriffs) reports take about a week to process so my friend has not contacted owner yet. I didn't think it took that long for police reports and told him he should stop by and ask for it in person. I think he was goin to do that.

calamarichris

That's not a whole lot of info to go on.
Generally it's a lot easier and better for everyone involved if you can take care of incidents like this as men engaging in courteous but serious dialogue without involving police, courts & lawyers, but it sounds like your friend has already opted for that, so there's not pointing in asking what's to be done.
Sorry to hear it and good luck.

Jan Feetz

There is usually signs posted somewhere along the trail that all dogs should be leashed. I have had this same problem with dog owners during my early morning commute. I would say that 9 times out of 10 the dog is not leashed. Just this morning I came across an owner with an unleashed dog and for a moment I thought he, the dog, was going to go after my ankle, hey I don't know what its thinking. I know on the SART the leash law is in effect but not enforced.

jimxyz

This post is now my favorite thanks to the Bob Odenkirk / Mr. Show reference. Unless the dog owner has $$ and is aware what a nice bike costs, you'll be lucky to get much relief. Small claims court is the right venue for the amount at issue. Take the LBS quote to fix the bike to the offender and cross you fingers that you can resolve it without having to endure the cost and delay of a lawsuit. My $0.02

Jaguar27

He could always call His Policy Holder, but from experience, my Home Insurance only covered up to $1500 if something happens while the Bike is at Home or stolen from the Garage etc. so I took out a seperate Policy which covers the Bike on the road in case of an accident or stolen from outside the Coffee shop etc. I think it's around $80 per year. That is through Metlife.

CritEastwood

If the rider had been in Orange County where the collision occured, the speed limit is 10MPH on the MUP. If he was exceeding the speed limit, he may be considered at fault. I find it hard to believe (given the implied severity of the collision) that he was going 10MPH or under. LA County may be a different story (ie. Lakewood), but unsafe speed on an MUP is still unsafe speed.

Lost again

Almost exact same thing happened to a friend of mine. She was riding on a residential street going through Rancho Cucamonga. Dog was unleashed and ran right out in front of here and she ran it over but went down herself. Ambulance and police were called. Dog owner wanted to know why she needed an ambulance (broken collarbone). A few days later her husband called the dog owner trying to work something out. The jerk said he wasn't at fault and they'd get no help from him. They decided to take it to small claims as their bills with the broken bike were over 5,000.00. The judge looked at all the bills and told them he wouldn't rule on the case as the bills totaled over 7,000. Well, they refiled in Superior court and had to get a lawyer. Final conclusion was they were awarded 28,000.00 of which the lawyer got about 8,000. The guys home owners insurance paid the claim but I'm sure his premium went through the roof.

thenomad

Justice is served! Great story.
I had a dog. They are fine with me. But these dumb dog owners are a whole other story...

RVD72

nobody likes getting lawyers involved (except for lawyers) but it takes 2 to work out a deal.

i had one case when one of my employees filed a claim against me (company). guy claimed that since he was a sysadmin and technically had to fix the server if it ever broke, he should be paid 24/7 for the time he worked for me. claim was for $130k. i called and said "dude, let's not get lawyers involved and work something out." he said "ok pay me $130k." i said "aw come on, you know you're never gonna get that. what is it you really want?" he said "i want the $130k".

long story short, i got a lawyer, cost me $20k, paid the ex-employee $50k...his lawyer was on contingency...ex-employee got like $20k in his pocket at the end of the day. all lawyers happy. me and ex-employee not so happy. oh well.

dog owner om this case needs to get sued for the bike, pain and suffering, etc. if he were more accommodating, i would have let him get away with just fixing my bike.

Bobsled

I haven't talk to my friend since before the holiday. Last I heard he was waiting for the police report to be released (they told him s/b about a week). Accident happened on 11/18. He had dropped off the bike at the LBS where he bought it. Owner/manager was documenting damages and writing up an estimate for him. My friend said once he had the police report he would pay the guy a visit armed with the police report and the LBS's damage estimate and ask that he be paid. Not sure what plan B would be if that didn't work other than small claims court.

Jan Feetz

For those of us who ride without a cyclometer a 10 mph speed limit would be impossible to enforce as would an unsafe speed. That is why the 10 mph speed limit is so dumb. I have no idea of how fast or slow I go.

longbeachgary

I'm surprised that it only took 8 pots to blame the rider.

haaseg

Yeah, but CritEastwood isn't even in SoCal anymore, and he blamed the rider 4 days after the thread had already died, and he trolled 5 or 6 other posts at that same time.

The moral of the story is... you can defend yourself with a gun from a blindside ambush while on the MUP but only if traveling under 10mph.