-[dog barking] -[woman screaming]
[barking and screaming continue]
[woman] Help!
[sobbing]
The injuries are some of the worst I've ever seen
since I've been doing this work.
[narrator] Now on Tribunal Justice.
[theme music playing]
[narrator] Today's case was filed in Lodi, California.
Your Honor, this is Case #3101 on the calendar
in the matter of Dunn v. Frazier & Frazier.
-Thank you, Byrd. -You're welcome, Judge.
Parties have been sworn in, you may be seated.
Ms. Dunn, you're suing the Fraziers for our court maximum of $10,000 for damages
that you say you incurred as a result of being attacked by their pit bull.
Mr. and Ms. Frazier, you two maintain that you don't owe the Plaintiff any money.
You say that she has inflated her medical bills,
and that she's also responsible for the death of your dog.
-Got your defense right? -Yes.
Ms. Dunn, let's just start with you. Take it from the top.
-How did you get bit? -I was having dinner with my sister,
my mom, and my husband.
We left the restaurant. I proceeded to go back to my mom's house.
They went to the grocery store, and then were going to be coming back to the house.
I pulled up to the front of the house.
I saw two small white dogs.
I did not see the pit bull, but I saw those two dogs.
So I proceeded to get out of my car.
[Acker] They were two Yorkies? You had two Yorkies?
-Two Yorkies. -[Christina] Yes.
When I got out of my car,
the pit bull had come around the other side of my car
and proceeded to start to attack me.
He bit me on my right arm.
He sunk his tooth into my left arm here, and then bit me again here.
Let me stop you right there because we actually have a video
-of the attack. -Yes.
Now, before we watch the video, tell me why your dogs got out.
So, um, the fence-- We rent our home,
and the landlord never fixed the fence,
so at the bottom part, there is, like, a little space.
I think they probably just took off,
and I believe that King was chasing the two small dogs.
-You were aware of the hole in the fence? -[Ashani] Yes.
-Um, I had already boarded the fence... -[Acker] Yes, sir.
...but it was still loose for them to be able to get out.
Okay. And before we watch this, a little disclaimer for all.
These images and the ones that you will see later
are indeed very, very graphic.
So if you are queasy or have a weak stomach, look away.
Uh, let's look at the video.
And so, ma'am, you submitted this video
because someone's Ring camera actually caught the incident on camera--
[Christina] That is correct, it was my mother's Ring camera.
Okay, so what are we seeing now at the far end?
I see two little dogs, the pit running wildly through the streets.
-And is that you? Oh, my goodness. -[dogs yelping and barking]
[Christina screaming]
Help! Help!
Oh! Help!
Help!
[Acker] That's you saying "help, help"?
[Christina] Yes, because I heard someone next door,
and they opened up their door and told me to come inside.
I didn't want to open my door because my dog was inside,
and I didn't want to open my door...
[Acker] Then your dog would come out
-and be a part of the fray. -[Christina] Exactly.
So I am going to make another disclaimer
because the injuries are some of the worst I've ever seen
since I've been doing this work.
So, can we put up the first picture of the Plaintiff's bite?
Again, it's very graphic.
That was-- The one on-- The picture on the left
is the one that happened on my right arm
and the other one is what happened on my left arm.
-[Acker] Each arm? -Yes.
May I see your arms now? Do you have any residual scarring?
I do. That is the residual scar on my right arm.
There is an indented scar right here, which is that one,
and then there was a puncture wound here that happened as well.
[Acker] The police came to the scene, yes?
Yes, they did. So at the time when the police arrived, I was already inside
the neighbors' house. We were watching it from their window.
The dog proceeded to notice the cops, and then ran towards them.
They were past the garage, so I wasn't able to see what happened after that,
but they did shoot the dog, we were able to hear that.
I'm actually going to read from portions of the police report
because Mr. and Ms. Frazier, you seem in your answer
to be pointing the finger at the Plaintiff
for being responsible for the dog's death.
But you know that it was the police officers who had to shoot the dog?
-Yeah. -You know why they had to shoot your dog?
-No, they would never... -[Acker] Okay, I'm gonna read you
the pertinent portion of the police report.
"Upon reaching my patrol vehicle,
I attempted to unlock my driver side door to enter it.
However, I noticed in my peripheral vision that the dog was getting closer to me.
The dog was chasing a bird and sprinting toward it.
The dog then quickly changed its direction and locked its attention on me.
The dog appeared to be snarling, barking, and growling at me,
and I could see its fangs flexed and its eyes focused on me.
Due to the rapidness of the call and the dog running at me,
I was unable to yell or give commands to the dog to stop,
and it did not appear to be changing its course.
The dog closed distance toward me
and was approximately three and a half feet from me before I pulled the trigger
and shot the dog rapidly three times.
I shot the dog because I reasonably feared that it was going to attack me
and potentially cause me great bodily injury or even death.
After the first shot, the dog was still moving toward me
and appeared to lunge up at me.
I continued to walk back and away from the dog,
but it was still following me.
After the additional two shots and moving back and away from the dog,
the dog changed its course and sprinted forward,
and eventually ran to the nearby sidewalk and flopped on the ground."
So, that's the narrative of the police officer
who was also almost attacked by your dog.
They never even mentioned it to us.
Like, they just said-- All we heard when we pulled up
was, "Your dog was shot because the dog attacked me."
They never went into detail with us or anything, Your Honor.
[narrator] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
And then you have the nerve to say to her, "We'll pay a portion of your bill."
Who says they're gonna pay a portion? You're gonna pick the bite on the left arm
but not the one on the right arm?
[dramatic music playing]
[theme music playing]
[narrator] Christina Dunn is suing neighbors Ashani and Davion Frazier
for $10,000 to cover medical bills
after their pit bull brutally attacked her.
Ashani and Davion say they owe nothing because Christina's bills are inflated,
and it's her fault their dog was shot and killed by the police.
You don't dispute that it was your dog that caused
-those terrible injuries to the Plaintiff? -Not at all.
And I agree, that was terrible.
We-- I even apologized-- We apologized and everything.
You also said that you were going to pay part of the bills.
-Yes. -Now, that's another part of your defense,
you say, "We told her we were going to pay some of the bills, but not all of them."
Why do you think that you have the right to pick and choose
which part of her injuries caused by your animal
you should be liable for?
I believe that the medical expense of going to the hospital, and that's okay.
But there's also two medical bills that we have,
and I'm quite confused because they both come from
San Joaquin General Hospital.
One is straight up from San Joaquin General Hospital,
the other one is from a-- It says it's the hospital,
but it's another form.
And then also on San Joaquin Hospital general bill, it says,
"Payable to Pasadena, California."
We're in San Joaquin County, that's Northern California.
Why is the bill going to Pasadena?
I'm just confused on why there's two bills and they both say the same date
and two separate things.
I don't understand.
Well, I'm telling you right now, straight up, not making this up.
I've never seen dog injuries like that,
and if you were not in this forum, and if she sued you somewhere else,
and she said, "I want 10,000 for my injuries,
and 25,000 for pain and suffering,
I promise you there's a judge, I promise you there's a jury
who would have given her almost anything she's asking for
because of the severity of those bites.
So I'm just going to say right now, you caught a break by being here.
Let's go through your bills. There is a $4,800 bill
for an emergency department visit that's dated the day of the incident.
You went to the emergency room?
I did go to the emergency room.
It was San Joaquin General Hospital that they took me to in French Camp.
And then I see another bill from San Joaquin General Hospital
for an emergency room, pharmacy, preventative care services.
How do you explain those two bills?
There was a bill for the hospital visit itself.
There was a physician's bill, which is that other bill you were talking about.
And then there was the ambulance bill.
And then I did get some prescriptions given to me at the hospital,
so that's for their pharmacy there.
[Acker] Did you ever share your bills with the Defendants?
I did. I had no inclination at that moment
that there wouldn't be any reason why we wouldn't be able to work this out.
Because you actually told her that you wanted to make payment arrangements.
So what happened?
So we were constantly paying her. Right now, my husband's on leave
with disability, we have three kids, and we all know California's very expensive.
And I was constantly paying her $100 a month.
The last payment she received, I believe was October of 2024.
My husband was not working, it was just me.
And she texted me in December, and she said, "I would like to meet up."
So, I said okay, and I've never received that phone call.
Because also I wanted to discuss with her,
um, I don't believe that all these bills, we should be paying it.
I don't know where the $16,000 came from.
But your dog got out and caused very serious injuries.
So just digest that. Thank you. Judge DiMango?
[DiMango] Well, I'm on board with a statement Judge Acker made to you.
Based on the scars on your arm,
the pain and suffering that you went through,
that you could have brought this case in a civil court
or even a supreme court, a higher court,
and probably recovered $100,000.
-Really. -Yeah.
I mean, I saw the blood dripping off your arms onto the ground.
I mean, it's just a total outrage.
It's such an outrage that even if I looked at the medical records
and wanted to accept what you were saying,
that one of those bills wasn't good,
still any two of these would bring her over $10,000.
Any two of them.
So it doesn't really matter what you're saying,
but to her credibility, they are accurate.
But I do want to say something that I found extremely troubling here.
One, according to the police report you had
that the dog had bitten somebody back in '21.
-Your pit bull did bite somebody else. -He didn't bite nobody, Your Honor.
Yes, it's in the police report, ma'am.
You want me to read you the report? Or are you gonna continue to tell me
-the dog never bit anybody? -Your Honor--
I know exactly what happened. He went to the lady's door
and he didn't even bite her, he did, like, that--
You don't think that's aggressive behavior?
The whole point of all this is that your dog is an aggressive dog.
And I'm going to read from the police report.
"Frazier advised her dog, named King,
has gotten out from the backyard multiple times in the past,
and has been warned about it from Animal Control.
Frazier advised that she had King since 2016,
and he has not been aggressive in the past."
That's not true because on page 33, which is the next page,
it says, "Upon checking our databases,
I discovered that King also had a previous bite on his record
from November 5, '21.
He was quarantined for 10 days at the Manteca Animal Services,
and then was reclaimed on November 16th, 2021."
And of course, you don't remember not having your dog for 10 days
while he was quarantined for a bite.
-Oh, no, I remember that. -Because I wanna go on further.
It was because of the bite that he got out.
-They said because he got out... -It was not for a bite.
-...Animal Control said he got out. -[DiMango] This is you saying
"My dog didn't do anything, but jump up and scratched somebody."
I didn't say my dog didn't do anything. I'm totally sorry for the dog biting
because had that been me, I understand,
but as far as him getting out in 2021, I'm sorry, Your Honor,
um, there was no... like, she doesn't even have a dog.
Ma'am, if I have to believe you or an official police report,
where they looked into official documents,
who do you think I'm gonna believe?
-The police. Of course. -Of course I am.
-[Davion] Mm-hm. -Of course, and why wouldn't I
because you two are in here defending a case you have no defense for.
So if you think you come in here credibly, I'm not understanding this.
You're accusing this woman of doctoring up doctors' reports,
and then you have the nerve to say to her, "We'll pay a portion of your bill."
Who says I'm going to pay a portion?
You're going to pick the bite on the left arm, but not the one on the right arm?
Who-- Who can pay $16,000?
Well, she shouldn't have to pay $16,000 for something your dog did
because of your negligence.
I can't-- I'm sorry, I'm the sole provider, and I have three children.
[DiMango] What, he doesn't work?
-I'm on disability right now. -He's on disability.
-[DiMango] He gets money for disability? -It's not a lot.
You see how you like to play with the truth?
And I bet you, even though you have a pit bull
and two other dogs,
that if somebody else's dog came up and jumped on you and scratched you,
-you would not be happy about that. -No, I wouldn't, Your Honor.
-Okay, therefore-- -My daughter had to hear
the cops shoot our dog, and my daughter is traumatized by that as well.
Well, you should have taken better care of your dog.
You should've taken better care of the place where your dog was being outside
so that they wouldn't come through. You had three dogs roaming the street.
Not just one. Three.
I can't even imagine what it would feel like to have a dog, a pit bull,
attached to my arms, biting my arms like that.
But the fact that you could be so defensive and not understand.
Plus, you did say, "I will pay you."
One of the text messages that we have here,
it's on page seven of ours.
You say to her the next day,
"Please send us any medical expenses for this. We will pay for it."
Eight months later, you're apologizing for not sending her even a penny.
-She did not-- She didn't contact us... -Because you're--
-...back until August. -Sorry, didn't you know you had to pay?
She said she was going to contact us as she was moving in the process of moving.
I've never seen more excuses.
I was also trying to work with the hospital to get the bills down.
-I've got one question for you. -Sure.
You have a two-year statute of limitations.
You were bitten on February 25th, 2023.
You know when you filed this case?
[narrator] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
You unfortunately got yourself a crappy lawyer.
Landlord said that he did not know about the dogs.
Didn't know about the dogs, didn't know about the fact there was a broken fence,
didn't know anything.
You can get an idea how pissed off I am when I hear stuff like that.
Yeah.
[theme music playing]
[narrator] Christina Dunn says a vicious attack
by Ashani and Davion Frazier's pit bull caused her serious nerve damage.
She is suing for $10,000.
Ashani and Davion say they only agreed to pay for one medical bill,
but more questionable bills kept coming, so they owe nothing.
You have a two-year statute of limitations.
You were bitten on February 25th, 2023.
You know when you filed this case?
-The day before. -The day before.
How did you come to be that close in time?
There was just a lot going on, like I said in the beginning,
I was trying to work to get the bills lowered or maybe even dismissed.
-[DiMango] Okay. -And then we decided to start moving,
I left my job.
We were selling our house.
Going to Colorado to look for a new house.
-There was just a lot going on. -[DiMango] A lot of things.
And I was trying to give them grace because I understood their situations,
-and where they were coming from. -Let me tell you one other thing.
More than two bites in California, Criminal charges. Criminal.
So you could stand there and look at me like that all you want,
but you should really be aware of what it is when you own pets,
how you have to be responsible for them. Judge Levy?
Why don't you have renters' insurance?
[both] We do have renters' insurance.
-Now? -We had it before.
-You did? -Yes.
And did your renters' insurance include coverage for you owning a pit bull,
a known dangerous breed?
-They did, actually. They asked us... -[Levy] No, they didn't.
Because if you did-- Again, you can't lie.
What do you do for a living?
-I'm in healthcare. -[Levy] In healthcare.
So you knew the extent of her injuries?
You saw them that day?
I went to her house. She wasn't there, then she came and knocked on my door.
You stayed in your neighbor's house for an hour with your arms.
I want to see it again.
If you don't want to see it, look away. I want you to look at it.
You see that? That's what her arm looked like.
You saw that on the day.
We never saw her wounds, Your Honor.
She was already bandaged up when we saw her.
She came back to the house because we wanted--
-We wanted to be stand-up neighbors. -[Levy] All right.
She came to my house after.
So here's what we're gonna do. You hired a lawyer.
-I did. -Where'd you get that lawyer from?
-I basically Googled. -[Levy] Yeah. Mistake.
Because the reason that we know that they didn't have insurance
that covered this type of incident,
was because your lawyer obtained all the information that he could
-regarding coverage. Right. -That is correct.
So State Farm is contacted and notified of this vicious attack by your lawyer.
-Yes. -And they investigate,
according to the letter from State Farm.
Does anyone contact you regarding this?
Somebody did call me, like, a couple weeks after the incident.
I don't remember where it was from, though.
-Who was it? -They said they're gonna get in contact
with our landlord, and next, you know, our landlord called us--
-[Levy] 'Cause they didn't have insurance. -Yes.
-Okay. -That's what I was told.
Now, Mr. or Ms. Frazier,
you said that your landlord knew that you had a pit bull when you moved in.
-Yes, he did. -[Davion] Yes.
And you also said, Mr. Frazier, that the landlord did not fix your fence.
No, sir, I tried to fix it myself.
Right. And the reason that you told your landlord to fix the fence
was because your dogs had gotten out before.
And you told the landlord that it was his responsibility to fix the fence
-'cause you guys are just renters. -Correct.
Correct.
-And he never fixed the fence? -No.
What year was it that you told your landlord
that the fence was broken, and that King had gotten out?
What year was that?
-What year did we move in? -2018.
-[Levy] And so that fence
was never fixed in 2018, '19, '20, '21, '22, and '23.
I would try and drill holes or patch it up.
I'm not saying you, I'm saying your landlord.
-[Ashani] Yeah. -These are all things that the lawyer
should have hired an investigator to interview.
Because if he did that, you would have got their entire policy.
-Yeah. -Not their policy, the landlord's policy.
But because you unfortunately got yourself a crappy lawyer.
-I did. And the land-- -[Levy] I know all--
-Yeah, I know all about-- -The landlord said that
he did not know about the dogs.
Didn't know about the dogs, didn't know about the fact there was a broken fence,
-didn't know anything. -[Christina] Yeah.
Yeah, that was pretty much it after that.
You get an idea how pissed off I am when I hear stuff like that.
-[Christina] Yeah. -[Davion] Nevertheless,
we are deeply apologetic.
-It's not like we didn't care. -[Levy] Listen.
I don't care if you're apologetic or not.
The fact is, she wasn't even asking you for pain and suffering,
which she was entitled to, she just wanted her medical bills paid.
You have a known dangerous breed.
You know that your dog has gotten out prior.
By the way, I want to see the video, P3, please.
Dog attack. If you don't want to see it, look away.
You were already at the neighbors' house, right, Ma'am?
[Christina] I was inside the neighbors' house.
-We saw what happened through the window. -[gunshots]
-[Levy] Three shots. Dead dog. Your fault. -[dog whimpering]
Your child devastated? Your fault.
But for the grace of God, there wasn't someone else,
a child, in your area at this time,
where that pit bull of yours, King, would have ripped them apart.
And you stayed in your neighbors' house with your arms dripping in blood,
-skin peeled back... -Yes.
-...until you were put in the ambulance. -That is correct.
And to have been attacked because of negligence like that,
it's disheartening.
[Levy] It wasn't just negligence, it was gross negligence.
And I'm going to tell you something else. Gross negligence on your lawyer's part.
Bad lawyer.
-Yeah. -Nothing further.
[Acker] I wanna circle back to the question of rental insurance.
'Cause you said you had rental insurance, so why not submit a claim?
I think I know why, but tell me why.
Honestly, I didn't even think about it, to be honest.
I have never seen a homeowners' or rental policy
that did not exclude, very specifically, two breeds.
And the reason I know this is because one of them I really wanted once upon a time,
which is a Rottweiler.
They're beautiful dogs. They're smart dogs.
-You know what the other breed is? -Pit bulls.
Pit bulls. I've never seen a policy that said
we are going to cover for pit bull injuries.
Your Honor, I do remember when my husband did get the renters' insurance,
he had to look, and that was the only one that would take a pit bull
'cause a lot of them were saying no. It's very rare.
So why didn't you submit a claim?
-I don't know. -I don't know.
You just didn't think about submitting it through your renters'?
-I just didn't think about it. -But did your lawyer make any inquiry
as to other insurance availability?
They didn't-- I don't believe they did,
but they did inform me that they did not have renters' insurance,
and suing them would not be a good idea.
-[Acker] That's what your lawyer said? -That's what my lawyer told me.
I don't have anything else.
I have a problem with your representation, that you get homeowners' insurance.
You know why you have homeowners' insurance.
You have a woman wanting to sue you or bring a claim,
and you say, "We didn't think about using our insurance."
[dramatic music playing]
[narrator] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
you can't afford to take care of your problem,
then you shouldn't have a problem.
[theme music playing]
You have a woman wanting to sue you or bring a claim,
and you say, "We didn't think about using our insurance."
I think there's a little more to it than that,
and I'm wondering whether or not you didn't want to do that
because if you ever put in a claim before for the other person's bite,
now it would be on record that your dog has bitten at least two other people.
And that would be a reason for you not wanting anybody,
other than who already knew,
to find that your dog had bitten just one more person.
That was the reason why you never even suggested it.
And this has to be a reason why would two people who can't afford,
based on what you said, who can't afford to make a payment,
not want to go through their insurance to give this woman something.
-[Ashani] We paid her a total of $650. -Yeah. $600!
-At the time, it was hard. -$600.
And then she messaged me because we had a...
[DiMango] Enough! You can't afford to take care of your problem,
then you shouldn't have a problem.
And the bottom line is, you're saying, "Oh, we made so many payments."
You paid $600 to the $16,000 that she had to pay.
And I know even when we're done with this, you're going to walk away and say,
"I don't understand it. We gave her $600.
I mean, what do they want from us? We can't afford this."
I don't have any other questions.
We're going to retire to deliberate at this time. Thank you all.
Court now stands in recess, this case will be recalled.
Parties are excused for the time being.
[dramatic music playing]
I honestly don't think there's a lot to talk about.
The damages are obvious, the liability is clear.
If she had one of these medical bills
and then wanted the balance of her complaint
to be for pain and suffering,
this is one of the easiest $10,000 verdicts that I've ever seen.
I mean, when I saw her and the blood dripping from her arm in the video,
it was upsetting.
And to think that they're going to come in and accuse her
of falsifying documents, etc.
She deserves every penny, and I wish she could get more.
Not all pit bulls are bad. They're not.
And the reason that they get to rap that they do,
and the reason some communities are banning them,
is because of incidents just like this, when you've got morons
who have pit bulls, don't train them properly,
despite when they're getting out of their properties and roaming at large,
prior bites, and do nothing about it.
And then everybody, every pit bull owner,
despite how sweet they may be and how great they are,
all get painted with that same broad brush.
That's what I have to say.
I would have given them the money and what were the other dogs? Chihuahuas?
-Uh, I think they were terriers. Yorkies! -Yorkies.
-Two Yorkies. -I would've given her the money
if the Yorkies bit her. I think it was just--
-It was just-- -It was a dog bite, and she was injured.
-That was horrific. We're unanimous. -Mm-hm.
[dramatic music playing]
Court is back in session. I remind all parties, you're still under oath.
Thank you, Byrd. We've deliberated, and we've reached a unanimous verdict.
We could not be more unanimous, ma'am,
that you're entitled to every penny of the $10,000 for which you're suing.
We wish you were in another forum where you could get more
because that's certainly more than $10,000 worth of injuries.
You know, Mr. and Ms. Frazier, what I read between the lines
is that you're really here because you couldn't afford to pay her.
And that's not a defense.
Uh, I am sure that times are tough,
but that's not a legal defense.
And one of the things that people have to think about
when they take on obligations, certainly breeds like this,
is you got to think in the back of your head,
like, what happens if something goes wrong?
So what you have to do is make sure that you're doing all that you can
to protect your family and the community.
You know, Judge Levy's right. The death of the dog
is on nobody's hands but yours.
The liability is yours. We're going to hold you to it.
And, ma'am, this $10,000 is just the tip of the iceberg
in terms of what we all think you would actually be entitled to.
So we are very pleased to render verdict in your favor.
-Good luck to everybody. Thank you. -[Christina] I appreciate it.
Thank you.
This case is now concluded. Parties are excused.
-You may step out. -I appreciate that.
I'm still going to stay with the fact that I think that of some of those bills,
the San Joaquin General bill was falsified.
I have scars that are going to last me the rest of my life.
Don't get me wrong, the dog injury was terrible.
I just feel like at least five, 5000.
It was definitely one of the most traumatic things I'd ever gone through.
That was a family-- Piece of our family.
So, you know, we just pretty much watched one of our loved ones pass away.
I'm glad that that dog is no longer around to hurt anybody else.
-We decided no more dogs anyway. -No more dogs.
There's no bad dogs, just bad owners.
[narrator] Someone's dog got you barking mad?
Unleash the hounds of Justice. Tribunal Justice.
[theme music playing]