Articles — Pit Bulls

The Visiting Assistance Animal

Posted by Stephen Marshall on

The Visiting Assistance Animal

THE STORY Bailey is the property manager of The Colosseum, a 250-unit luxury complex. The Colosseum allows its residents to own pets, but has a list of restricted breeds that includes all the usual suspects: Pit Bills, Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Chows, etc. Recently, Bailey has received several complaints that a Pit Bull was on the property near the 300 Building. None of those who complained could associate the animal with any particular resident, and no one on Bailey’s staff had ever seen the dog when they investigated the complaints. One afternoon as she was walking the grounds with a member...

Read more →

Pit Bulls as Assistance Animals: A Manager's Perspective

Posted by Stephen Marshall on

Pit Bulls as Assistance Animals: A Manager's Perspective

  Philosopher John Stuart Mill famously said that landlords “grow rich in their sleep, without working, risking, or economizing”. While it’s debatable whether that was true in Mill’s day, the “without risking” portion of Mill’s quote is certainly false today. My blog posts on Kentucky’s strict liability standard for landlords in dog-bite cases alone should make that clear. However, when you combine broad liability for dog bites with the dramatic increase in tenants with Assistance Animals, landlords often feel like they’re darned if they do and darned if they don’t. When you add in the fact that many Assistance Animals...

Read more →