133 A. 656 | R.I. | 1926
This is an action of trespass on the case to recover compensation for expenditures by plaintiff for doctor's bills, medicine and nursing made necessary because of injuries suffered by plaintiff's minor daughter which were caused by the bite of a dog owned by the defendant. The child, when bitten, was on a public highway in Warwick. A demurrer to the declaration was sustained in the Superior Court and the case is here on plaintiff's exceptions to this ruling.
The question is — Can plaintiff maintain her action under the provisions of G.L. 1923, C. 136;, s. 3, which is as follows: "If any dog shall kill, wound or worry, or assist in killing, wounding or worrying, any sheep, lamb, cattle, horse, hog, swine, fowl or other domestic animal, belonging to or in the possession of any person, or shall assault of bite, or otherwise injure, any person while travelling the highway or out *385 of the enclosure of the owner or keeper of such dog, the owner or keeper of such dog shall be liable to the person aggrieved as aforesaid, for all damage sustained, to be recovered in an action of trespass on the case, or in an action of trespass, with costs of suit; . . . and it shall not be necessary, in order to sustain any such action, to prove that the owner or keeper of such dog knew that such dog was accustomed to do such damage."
Defendant's claim is that recovery of damages under the statute is limited to the person who while on a highway is injured by a dog and when the injury is indirect, as in this case, that there is no right of recovery.
This construction of the statute is admissible if the phraseology of the act only is examined, but that such a construction is too narrow and frustrates the intent of the act, we think clearly appears upon consideration of the history and evident purpose of the act.
The provision in question became a law in 1889 (P.L., C. 749). It has been construed in the following cases. In Kelly v.Alderson,
In Palmer v. Saccocia,
As thus appears, the construction of the statute has been consistently liberal, and with reason. The owner or keeper of a dog must keep the dog within an enclosure or suffer the consequences; that is, pay for any damage caused by the dog. The recovery may be by action of trespass or trespass on the case, — for direct or indirect injury. Vogel v. McAuliffe,
The exception of plaintiff is sustained. The case is remitted to the Superior Court for further proceedings.