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Continued... Page 2 > Filling the Empty Chair

Even if I have a black dog, who was there that day, and was in the front yard, and he wasn't fenced in, and he wasn't tied to a chain, and he did go out onto the sidewalk, and even if the youngster didn't provoked him, and even if my dog did bite the youngster, and even if she won't get over it soon, and even if her problems are related to the dog bite, they are all in her head. AND if it's not in her head: SHE'S NOT HURT VERY MUCH, ANYWAY!!!!

That's were we are today in the defense of this case ANY ARGUMENT TO AVOID RESPONSIBILITY AND PAYMENT OF just compensation FOR THE INJURY AND DAMAGE DONE.

Ed didn't go far enough. These days, the dogs' owner would allege that the child's injury was all the fault of the contractor who built the fence, the manufacturer of the chain, the municipality for failure to maintain a dog free sidewalk, and the pet storeowner from whom he bought the dog. It is the challenge of plaintiff's counsel how to deal with such mind-bogglingly baseless claims, and turn them to an advantage.

Of course you do discovery, but I propose a two-step process to limit the effect of such tactics, and perhaps turn them against the defendant.

But first a review of the legal tools in the arsenal.

The Statute. One of the results of the 1986 Tort Reform Act was RCW 4.22.070(1):

(1) In all actions involving fault of more than one entity, the trier of fact shall determine the percentage of the total fault which is attributable to every entity which caused the claimant's damages except entities immune from liability to the claimant under Title 51 RCW. The sum of the percentages of the total fault attributed to at-fault entities shall equal one hundred percent. The entities whose fault shall be determined include the claimant or person suffering personal injury or incurring property damage, defendants, third-party defendants, entities released by the claimant, entities with any other individual defense against the claimant, and entities immune from liability to the claimant, but shall not include those entities immune from liability to the claimant under Title 51 RCW. Judgment shall be entered against each defendant except those who have been released by the claimant or are immune from liability to the claimant or have prevailed on any other individual defense against the claimant in an amount which represents that party's proportionate share of the claimant's total damages. The liability of each defendant shall be several only and shall not be joint except:

(a) A party shall be responsible for the fault of another person or for payment of the proportionate share of another party where both were acting in concert or when a person was acting as an agent or servant of the party.

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