YOU Be the Judge

If anyone ever needed to findten-year-old Brian Yuzon,a good bet was tocheck down thestreet at JeffBlackburn’s house.Brian often hungout with his palJeff, even thoughhe was afraid ofJeff ’s two familydogs. He was particularlyfrightened ofKemo, a Rottweiler-pitbull mix. In fact, wheneverBrian went to visit Jeff, theBlackburns locked Kemo in a room.

Brian had no reason to think Kemowasn’t safely inside when, on a springday in 2001, he and a couple ofother friends in Long Beach,California, went toJeff ’s home afterschool. The boysheaded into theBlackburns’ backyardand waited asJeff, whose parentsweren’t home, went insideto use the bathroom.When Jeff came out through theback door, Brian was horrified to seeKemo running outside, barking wildly.Jeff yelled for Brian to freeze, but theboy was already racing toward thefront gate. He didn’t make it.

With bared teeth, Kemo lunged andcaught Brian’s arm in his powerfuljaws. Kemo clamped down again andagain as Brian screamed hysterically.The other children tried to pull off theattacking dog, while a neighbor calledfor help. By the time paramedics arrived,the skin on Brian’s upper armand elbow was shredded and hanging.His physical injuriestook nearly three hoursof surgery to repair,leaving Brian with multiplescars and a deepfear of dogs.

Deeply upset, andfacing medical billsthat quickly climbedinto the thousands, theYuzon family broughta lawsuit against theBlackburns—only todiscover that they had no moneyin the bank. So, afterlearning thatthe Blackburnswere renting their housefrom a man named Gerald Collins,the Yuzons reasoned that he, too, wasresponsible for Brian’s injuries. TheYuzons assumed Collins had to haveknown that he was allowing a viciousanimal on his property, because Kemohad escaped several times and frightenedthe neighbors.

And Tracy Blackburn, Kemo’sowner, testified that whenever Collinsvisited the property, she would greether landlord on the front porch. Whilethey talked, Kemo would bark andlunge at the door. She also claimed that Collins once asked her to “pin thedogs up” before an insurance agentwas to inspect the backyard. Whywould Collins do that, the Yuzonswondered, if he didn’t know there wasmore than one dog or that one dogwas fierce? Didn’t the owner have aduty to protect outsiders from anyknown dangers at his rental house?

Gerald Collins hada very different story.He acknowledged thatthe Blackburns’ leaseallowed them to keepa dog, but at the timehe had agreed to thislease, the Blackburns’only dog was a blindspringer spaniel. Collinsalso testified thathe was not only unawareof any other dog on the property,but that he had never seen orheard a dog at all when he showed upat the door of the rental house. Contraryto the Yuzons’ contention, Collinsasserted that he had never heardfrom the neighbors about Kemo’s escapesor seen the dog running wild,and the Blackburns never told him ofany problems with Kemo. He didn’tknow about the danger, Collins said,so how could he be liable for the damagethe dog caused?

Is Collins responsible for Brian’sinjuries? You Be the Judge! Thenread on to see if the court actuallyruled the way you did.