A Gig Harbor woman mauled by pit bulls four years ago doesn’t think she should be held at all responsible for the attack that sent her to the hospital.
Sue Gorman filed notice this week she intends to appeal a jury verdict that awarded her $2.2 million in damages but also said she was 1 percent to blame for the attack.
Gorman’s appeal, if successful, wouldn’t change the award’s dollar amount but could mean Pierce County would be on the hook for a bigger percentage of the payout.
Gorman last year sued the county and the owners of the two pit bulls that entered her home through an open sliding-glass door and attacked her in her bedroom.
Her attorneys argued at trial that the dogs’ owners were negligent for not better containing the animals. They also contended the county was negligent for not taking action against one of the dogs’ owners despite numerous complaints.
Jurors found that dog’s owners 52 percent to blame for the attack, the county 42 percent to blame, the other dog’s owner 5 percent to blame and Gorman 1 percent to blame.
Gorman’s attorney, Mike McKasy, said this week his client is blameless. McKasy said he is asking a state appeals panel to strike the 1 percent blame assigned to Gorman.
“Sue would not have been negligent if she was walking her dog and the pit bulls attacked her or if she was playing with her dog in her backyard and was attacked,” he said.
“So how can she be negligent if she is in her home asleep in her bed when she was attacked?”
If Gorman succeeds, she could ask, under the state’s law on joint and several liability, that the county pay a larger portion of the $2.2 million award than the more than $920,000 for which it is now responsible.
That law allows plaintiffs to seek a larger portion or all of an award from a single defendant if co-defendants can’t pay their share.
It hasn’t taken effect in Gorman’s case because she was found partly to blame for the attack, said deputy prosecutor Ronald Williams, who defended the county at trial.
McKasy said the county could be on the hook for the entire $2.2 million verdict if Gorman’s appeal succeeds. Williams said that might not be entirely true. The other defendants have insurance that could cover some of the costs, he said.
And the county has filed its own appeal of the verdict, contending its animal-control officers acted appropriately and that the dogs’ owners should be held completely responsible for the attack.
It could be a year or more before the appeals run their course.
Adam Lynn: 253-597-8644
adam.lynn@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/crime
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