Woman Awarded $5.4 Million After Dog, Who Had a History of Biting Other People, Attacked Her at L.A. Animal Shelter
East Valley Animal Shelter in Van Nuys, Calif. Credit: Google Maps
A woman who was seriously injured in a dog attack at a Los Angeles animal shelter has been awarded millions of dollars in damages.
Genice Horta, 51, received $5.4 million from a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury after a 10-day trial, more than three years after filing a lawsuit over the incident, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Horta alleged that she was attacked by a Belgian Malinois named Maximus while working with the East Valley Animal Shelter and a rescue organization. She claimed she was not properly warned about the dog’s history of aggression.
The incident occurred on Sept. 23, 2020, when Horta was hired by the HIT Living Foundation to transport Maximus from East Valley Animal Shelter to Arizona, the newspaper reported. Horta said a shelter employee told her the dog suffered from “kennel anxiety.” She then offered Maximus a treat containing trazodone, a medication commonly used to calm anxious dogs.
According to court records cited by the Los Angeles Times, Maximus took the treat before lunging at Horta and biting her right hand and arm. She underwent six surgeries to repair damage to bones and nerves and sustained permanent injuries.
During the trial, a shelter employee testified that he warned Horta not to approach the dog with the treat. Video shown in court reportedly captured him attempting to restrain Maximus using a cable looped around the dog’s neck.
Horta argued that the shelter failed to control the dog and did not adequately disclose its history of biting. The lawsuit stated that Maximus had previously sent a teenager and a shelter employee to the hospital after separate biting incidents. Under California law, public animal shelters are required to inform potential adopters if a dog has bitten or seriously injured someone.
Court documents also indicated that shelter staff had recorded concerns about the dog’s behavior, including observations that he was “viciously biting and snapping at people walking past his enclosure.” One employee reportedly wrote, “USE EXTREME CAUTION!!!” in internal notes about Maximus.
Horta’s attorney, Ivan Puchalt, said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times that the case exposed “a series of serious and preventable mistakes” related to warnings about the dog’s bite history and the failure to control what he described as a dangerous animal.
The jury found the city of Los Angeles 62.5% liable for the attack, the rescue group 25% liable and Horta 12.5% liable.
Neither Puchalt nor L.A. Animal Services, which oversees city shelters, immediately responded to requests for comment.
According to the Los Angeles Times, this marks the third time someone has won a payout after alleging that a Los Angeles animal shelter failed to properly warn about a dog’s dangerous history.
In one prior case, Kristin Wright was awarded $3.25 million after she said she was severely injured by a pit bull adopted from a South Los Angeles shelter that had previously injured its former owner. In another case, Argelia Alvarado received a $7.5 million settlement after she was attacked by a pit bull her son adopted from a city shelter that had earlier attacked a jogger, the newspaper reported.
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