00:00According to the child, the child was not pulling his ear straight out,
00:04which is what you say causes him to act out that way.
00:08According to this little girl, that didn't happen.
00:11But clearly, someone is responsible minimally for the medical bills that these people incurred.
00:19Can I see your medical bills?
00:21Because as between this lady and you, it was within your home that this happened.
00:29So somebody is going to be financially damaged.
00:33And I'm not talking about the little mark that's on your daughter's face.
00:36That's going to go away, hopefully.
00:38I have a report from a doctor that will scar forever.
00:42She has two scars on her face, one on her cheek, one under her nose.
00:47I just want to know what the bill was so far.
00:52We pay $2,500 cash for the plastic surgeon to do her face.
00:57Okay.
00:59Mrs. Mattar, I'm going to come to you.
01:02You seem like an intelligent lady.
01:05And I'm sure that you knew that these people had a dog in their house.
01:10And an intelligent person also knows that when little children are around a dog, something can happen.
01:15Now, I'm not saying that you are responsible, but you clearly knew that they had a dog.
01:21Right?
01:22But things can happen anywhere you go.
01:24Right.
01:25That's my point, too.
01:26When a dog bites somebody, regardless of where, when, and how, it usually becomes the owners of the dog's responsibility.
01:33It's almost a relativity here as to, okay, so by default, you know...
01:38No, Miss Soria, you're missing the point, madam.
01:41The point is that you were, A, aware of the fact that your dog had a problem.
01:48Mm-hmm.
01:49Right?
01:49Mm-hmm.
01:49Did you ever tell that to Mrs. Mattar?
01:53No.
01:54Well, you see, that's a responsibility that you have.
01:57Because then Mrs. Mattar would have been on notice.
02:01And she would have known that what you knew about your dog, that your dog had a certain sensitivity.
02:07And then I would say, well, she assumed the risk if she let her children go to your house to play.
02:14You can't say that I'm telling an eight-year-old, and therefore I've completely absolved myself of responsibility.
02:21If you told the mother, and after you told the mother, she said, dog looks perfectly fine to me.
02:30I'm going to let my children go over there, then she is in at least part, in part, negligent.
02:37You would agree with that, right?
02:39Yes, I do.
02:40But you didn't tell her, and that was a mistake.
02:43Telling the children is not telling her.
02:46Now, they have medical bills now of $2,500.
02:51Somebody's got to pay for that.
02:52You had the knowledge about your dog.
02:54She did not.
02:55So, you have to pay these medical bills, and the judgment is for the plaintiff in the amount of $2,500.
03:02That's all.
03:02What about the scars?
03:04I'm sorry, Your Honor.
03:05What about the other charges that I have to do another surgery for her to take out all the scars on her face?
03:11Let me tell you something.
03:12Right now, to date, your medical bills are $2,500.
03:16Okay.
03:16Right?
03:18If you have additional medical bills, there are notice they may be responsible.
03:23It may be that as your daughter gets older, this little mark that's right over here is going to fade.
03:29I spoke to a specialist, which she told me that it will not.
03:30You may have spoken to a specialist, but I'm telling you, as your daughter gets older, she's still a little child.
03:36Her face is going to grow.
03:37Her skin is going to grow.
03:38And what looks like a quarter of an inch scar now may be nothing more than a dot later on.
03:44And you, as a responsible parent, might not want to put your child through an additional surgical procedure.
03:49So, right now, I'm giving you your medical bills to date, which are $2,500.
03:53Now, you have to know, Ms. Mattar also, if you allow your children to go next door to a neighbor to play and the neighbor has a dog, a little dog like this, that looks perfectly harmless.
04:06There is always that risk.
04:07I don't think that there was anything malevolent about what the defendant did.
04:12I mean, according to what she tells me, the dog has never bitten anybody else.
04:15But you have a responsibility to tell the parents, not the children, of people that come into your house, that this dog has now bitten one child.
04:27Because the next time, if this happens to somebody else, you are responsible for punitive damages.
