FATHER'S LIABILITY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22860, 15 October 1937, Page 16

FATHER'S LIABILITY

DAMAGE BY DAUGHTER'S DOG DECISION OF APPEAL COURT [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] WELLINGTON. Thursday The Court of Appeal, in a judgment delivered yesterday, upheld a decision of Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., that Adalbert Joseph Tobin, accountant, of Wellington, at whose house a dog belonging to his daughter was kept, was liable for damage done by it in killing lambs and sheep. The magistrate had awarded £55, in a claim for £7l 18s brought by Agnes Dorman and William Fullarton Dorman, of Brooklyn, against Tobin, for the loss of sheep killed or so badly injured that they died or had to be killed, for the labour of six men and three horses engaged in hunting the dog, which was shot, and attending to the injured sheep, and for damages for the harrying of the remainder of the flock..

Miss A. Tobin was the registered owner of the dog, a collie, and lives with her parents. During her absence from home the dog remained at her father's house and was looked after by members of the family. Mr. Luxford had said in the course of his judgment that the common law liability for damage caused by animals depended on the possession and not on ownership, and in New Zealand the keepers of dogs had been designated "owners" for all the purposes of the Act, including liability for damage. Defendant appealed on the ground that the magistrate's decision was wrong in point of law.