Keep Your Domestic Animals in Your Space, or Face the Case
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Video Transcribed: Hi, I’m Mike Ashworth, a personal injury attorney in Oklahoma. The topic for today is animals at large. That sounds really weird. Animals at large, what does that mean?
You think of old-time criminal movies. The suspect is at large. How is a dog at large? How is a horse at large? Well, Oklahoma has defined that for us. The Supreme Court of the state in what we call Oklahoma informed jury instructions has detailed what is an animal at large, and why is that a big deal potentially? This is OUJI instruction number 13.5, and it’s aptly named, animals running at large. And it says here, “As the owner of or the person who keeps cattle, horses, mules, sheep, or other domestic animals, has a duty to exercise ordinary care.” That’s a phrase you hear a lot in the law. Ordinary care. Ordinary care.
“To keep them from running at large and is responsible for all damage to property and injuries to persons that are directly caused by the domestic animals. However, an owner is not liable for damages caused by domestic animals that have escaped. Unless it is shown that the owner did not exercise ordinary care in confining them in a properly maintained enclosure that is generally adequate to restrain the domestic animals.”
Well, what does that mean by escape? Do you have to have Willie the horse get wire shears and cut the fence? Or is it something where you know the fence is in disrepair, and your dog or your horse or your cattle can get out and traipse across your neighbor’s yard, do some damage to their property, or the dog may kill some chickens or things like that in rural Oklahoma. So it’s very, very important that if you have landlords, for example, if you are leasing property, you need to really, really, really be aware of what animals they are keeping because that could be a liability for you down the road.
By the same token, if the landlord is not keeping your fence in repair, there may be some liability for any injuries that you or your neighbors, or whoever receives. It’s a situation we have to look at on a case-by-case basis because no two cases like this are the same. There’s going to be an overlap. If you have any questions about the law at all, please feel free to give us a call or go to oscn.net. You can look at this for free. There’s no secret method to getting this information, but we’re here to help you. We want to make law easy, and that’s our goal, and that’s what we’re very good at doing. You can reach me, an animal liability lawyer in Tulsa, at TulsaPersonalInjuryLawyer.pro, or you can reach us at makelaweasy.com. Contact us at any time. It won’t cost you a dime to just ask a legal question or consult with us. It’s worth a phone call. You’re worth it.
