As B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled a man bitten on his lower leg by Flex the Yorkshire terrier is entitled to $5,000.
Robert Rae, now 88, had sought between $30,000 and $35,000 in damages against Flex’s owners Dr. Samir Hanna Gadalla, 83, and wife Rofah Boulis Abdel-Malik, 78.
They claimed Rae was not bitten but merely scratched, that Rae had provoked Flex by accidentally stepping on one of his paws on Oct. 12, 2018, at a Yaletown complex where all of them live.
“They deny that they were negligent, or that Flex was known to them to have a dangerous propensity for aggression...” Justice Warren Milman said in his Aug. 11 decision,
While claiming they were not liable, they said Rae should get no more than $2,500 if they were found responsible.
“I have concluded that Mr. Rae did not accidentally provoke Flex by stepping on him,” Milman said. “Rather, the more likely explanation for what occurred is that Flex was behaving aggressively and barking from the moment that Mr. Rae got on the elevator, and that Flex then lunged and bit Mr. Rae without provocation.”
When the bite happened, Rae had just finished his morning workout and got on the elevator with Abdel-Malik and Flex.
“Flex was on a leash and barking. Just as the doors opened at his floor, Flex bit him on the back of his left leg, below the knee, drawing blood,” Milman said. “Mr. Rae denied that he stumbled or stepped on Flex before being bitten.”
The man stayed on the elevator and demanded Abdel-Malik go to the concierge with him. But she continued to her suite. Rae pounded on the door and got no response. So, he went to the concierge, called for an ambulance, and had paramedics treat his wound.
Abdel-Malik described the situation differently. She said she heard Flex bark when Rae stumbled backwards and accidentally stepped on him.
“However, she denied that Mr. Rae followed her from the elevator to her suite,” Milman wrote. “Once in the suite, she noticed that Flex was whining and in pain and unable to put weight on one of his paws.”
The judge said the couple’s son arrived and noticed Flex appeared to be injured and limping.
Two witnesses recounted encounters with Flex, one saying he avoided a bite and was scratched while another said the dog lunged at him with bared teeth.
“Gadalla testified that on the day after the incident, he began to place a muzzle on Flex while in the common areas of the building,” Milman said.
The building strata council fined the couple $200 for the incident and directed that Flex wear a muzzle in building common areas.
