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 NEW BRUNSWICK,
N.J.
(USA)
—
Last week, a New Brunswick jury awarded
$1,200,000 to the family of a man killed in a car crash in Kenilworth last June. The ruling was made on the basis that "Totonka",
an 18-month-old German Shepherd mutt was at fault.
On June 28, 2001 at Galloping Hill Road,
Totonka allegedly ran out of a wooded area and into the path of Ikram
Yasin's car. Mr. Yasin swerved to avoid the dog, crossed into incoming
traffic and hit another vehicle head-on. The man died the next day
at University Hospital in Newark.
Robert Goodman, attorney for Mr. Yasin's surviving wife and four
children, argued in court that the dog's guardian, 75-year-old Maria
Albenesius of Union, should have kept Totonka contained and away from the
roadway.
Ms. Albenesius told the court that Totonka and her two other dogs
escaped from her property the day before the accident; the other two were
found, but Totonka remained at large.
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Jurors originally returned with a verdict of $1.4 million for lost
wages and pain and suffering, but they reduced it by 10 percent because
they felt that Mr. Yasin was partly to blame for the accident.
The New
Jersey Record reports that Ms. Albenesius plans to appeal the
verdict. Her attorney argues that no one saw the dog cross Mr.
Yasin's path and that it was not reasonable for a driver to swerve into an
oncoming lane of traffic to avoid hitting a dog.
Totonka did not survive the accident. But Ms. Albenesius has
no plans to seek legal restitution for the dog's death.
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