Friday, August 22, 2008
STAFF REPORT
WARREN — A Niles woman has sued her neighbor on Hartzell Avenue, claiming he failed to control two dogs in his backyard. The suit said one of her dogs was fatally attacked and that she and another of her dogs were injured.
Lory Patrick, of 414 Hartzell, filed the suit in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, naming as defendant Jeff Villanueva, of 408 Hartzell.
The suit said the attack occurred July 12, 2007, when Villanueva’s two dogs got into Patrick’s fenced-in backyard and began to attack her four dogs.
Patrick heard the attack and went to her backyard to protect her dogs, which were shih tzu breed. At that point, one of Villanueva’s dogs bit Patrick’s arm and caused Patrick to fall to the ground, the suit said.
Patrick sued for more than $25,000 for the loss of a dog named Baby, which Patrick purchased for $1,500 in 2002 and which had given birth to pups for sale, plus medical expenses for Patrick and her dogs, crematorium expenses for the dog that died, and personal property expenses such as clothing, eyeglasses and fence repairs and reinforcements.
Villanueva has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached for comment.