131 Mo. App. 676 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1908
This action was begun before a justice of the peace to recover damages for a dog owned by respondent and shot and killed by Charles Riley, son of appellant Wiliam W. Riley. A trial before the justice resulted in a judgment against both defendants, from which William Riley, the father, took an appeal to the circuit court where judgment was given against him for twenty dollars and he then appealed to this court. The complaint alleges Charles Ril.ey, the minor son, shot and killed the dog in the presence and with the knowledge and consent of his father, and on those allegations it is sought to hold appellant liable. The sufficiency of the complaint is challenged, but we will not determine the question because, in our opinion, the evidence is insufficient to support the judgment against appellant. While respondent was driving in a buggy along a road which ran past the yard of appellant’s house, the dog which was following the buggy, leaped over the fence into the yard. Charles Riley, son of appellant and then seventeen years old, spied the dog, got a gun from the house and went into the yard. As he did this appellant was on his way to the house from
The judgment is reversed.