Toolan v. Hertel

Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court (Tait, Jr., J.), entered December 8, 1992 in Madison County, which granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint.

In our view, defendants’ motion for summary judgment was properly granted in this action seeking to recover for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff after she was attacked by a 175-pound male English Mastiff owned by defendants. In order to establish a prima facie case of strict liability in a dog bite case, the plaintiff must establish that the animal had vicious propensities and that its owner had knowledge…