Augsburger v. Homestead Mutual Insurance

¶ 1. Under Wis. Stat. § 174.02 (2011-12),1 an "owner" of a dog is subject to strict liability for injuries caused by the dog. An "owner" is *489"any person who owns, harbors or keeps a dog." Wis. Stat. § 174.001(5). George Kontos permitted his adult daughter, her family, and their dogs to reside in a home he owned but in which he himself did not reside. Julie Augsburger alleges the dogs attacked and injured her when she visited Kontos's daughter at that home. In this case, we are asked to decide if, under these circumstances, Kontos was a harborer of the dogs, and therefore a statutory owner of…