WEST HAVEN–A woman has settled a lawsuit against her neighbors after their dog bit her, leaving her with serious injuries.
On September 10, 2014 Joan Scarveles had picked some tomatoes from her garden, and she was handing some over the fence to her neighbor, Madalena Frater, as she did on a regular basis.
Madalena Frater and her husband, Giovanni, live next to Joan on Painters Drive in West Haven.
While handing over the tomatoes, Frater’s dog, Gigi, ran down from her deck and bit Joan on the hand.
Joan suffered injuries to her right hand, right shoulder, right arm and right thigh, resulting in $35,521 in medical expenses so far. Besides the injuries, which resulted in her needed a skin graft which left permanent scars, Joan also needed a series of rabies shots because the dog was not fully vaccinated.
According to the CT Law Tribune, Joan wasn’t able to use her hand for a period of time after she had surgery, and she still has some sensory loss and numbness in her thumb.
The Law Tribune states that the neighbors settled the lawsuit during a pre-trial hearing for $250,000.
“I think the photographs [of the bite] were compelling,” Jessica Ayala, Joan’s lawyer at Carter Mario Injury Lawyers, said to the Law Tribune. “It’s hard to argue that a degloving injury of your hand is not significant.”
The lawyers said that Gigi, a 2-year-old boxer mix, is still living with the Fraters next door to Joan.
