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The man was warned that the cat had bitten others. Was anyone else infected by this cat? Did the man clean and bandage the wound? Did rhe man confuse the cat with the per rattlesnake? How do you get $122,000? One can buy 4 brand new cars with that much money. Was the hand replaced? Was he out of work for a full year? What was the IQ of the judge?

Can the sister sue him, now, for tension and estrangement caused by his actions in the lawsuit?

As a veterinary technician, I would like to point out that cat bites should be taken very seriously. A cat’s normally occurring bacterial flora can be fairly toxic.

Something on the order of 85% of cat bites become infected. If you are bitten by a cat, even though the wound itself may seem minor, you should contact your family doctor about antibiotics.

The veterinarian I work for was bitten by a cat. It was a single bite wound — two punctures on the top and bottom of his left hand. He treated it immediately and got started on oral antibiotics that afternoon.

Two days later he was in the hospital where he remained for three days, on IV antibiotics, as the infection spread rapidly up his arm. At one point doctors thought they might have to surgically debride the wound before he finally began to respond to the antibiotics. The infection had spread nearly to his elbow before doctors got it under control.

It was several weeks before he had full function back in his left hand.

Being a sole practitioner, that meant several days when he could not see any clients (no income), and a few weeks before he could perform surgery (reduced income), and his left hand isn’t even his dominant hand.

So no, $122,000, though it may be excessive in this case, does not automatically seem too high to me.

The sister should have been criminally charged for battery. She kept a pet that bit many times. She should not be allowed to keep a vicious animal. Lawyers keeping two war dogs that killed a woman in the apartment building went to prison for homicide. That case remains ubder review in the Ninth Circuit.

Insurance covers negligence, not criminality. Why the insurance lawyer failed to press criminal charges requires explanation.

I suspect that this may not be the first tense incident between brother and sister.

I wonder if the verdict is covered by her homeowner’s insurance?

tsiroth

Your 85% seems high.

Women are warned about the hazards of second hand smoke and Mercury to them and their children. Why don’t we see warnings about cats and dogs?

Dog bites are not infectious to the degree that cat bites are, and cat bites are not particularly common.

Pasteurella multocida is the organism associated with cat bite wound infection. Presence of the bacteria, plus frequent involvement of the joint capsules (bites are most often to the hands), plus having a small, deep puncture that will seal over quickly, trapping bacteria inside are the reasons I am given to understand for the rate of infection.

*shrug* I’m not particularly married to the 85% figure, that’s just the number I was taught in vet tech school.

A quick search on google turns up a JAPMA article that says “30 to 80%” of cat bites become infected. Other links show lower rates.

My own anecdotal experience (which includes more than just my boss) says that the infection rate is high, for what that’s worth.

tsiroth,

We had lots of cats in our family over the years with no problem. Dog bites might not be as infectious, but many dogs have large mouths and can do lots of damage, including death.

Perhaps we should have health warnings about pets. A friend of mine got a nasty desease from a bird.
The risks from pets are real as contrasted to the risks from PCBs in the Hudson River.

I’m a judge’s clerk who works across the hall from judge Yuille’s court, who tried the case.

The plaintiff’s attorney was compelled to take the case as the previous attorney was a criminal defense attorney who had no experience with civil law. The defense attorney on the case is one of the county’s best. That prior attorney was totally overwhelmed.

So anyway, the new attorney took it on a lark because he didn’t do that type of law either. He’s an employment/civil rights attorney but he does have lots of trial experience and has won several multimillion dollar verdicts. So he took the case just to see what he could do with it. No one really expected much.

I had a feeling the defense attorney was in trouble when he was treating his witness (the cat owner) as if she were an adverse witness. Apparently she lied on the stand, she claimed the cat never bit anyone before. Of course that wasn’t true, it bit everyone. Witness after witness testified to that. So her attorney was pissed off. And of course the lie apparently pissed off the jury too, hence the verdict.

Too bad the articles don’t give the breakdown of the award into hospital bills, lost income, and “pain and suffering.” Since the guy spent three weeks in the hospital, I’d expect medical bills in the tens of thousands, up to about half of the award. Lost income = a few thousand unless he’s got an incredible job. So I expect at least half the award is pain and suffering.

Of course, this lawsuit was really bitten man vs. sister’s insurance company. I don’t know why the insurance company didn’t settle.

By being an ass on the stand, the sister cost her insurance company more, not herself – not until she tries to renew her insurance, that is! Can insurance companies impose a “no pets” rule? Or a steep price differential, say $122,000/year with the cat, normal price without?