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Lachenman v. Stice11/30/2005
the trial court was correct to exclude such evidence in that the subsequent attacks could not be relevant to the question of the alleged vicious propensity of their dogs and their knowledge thereof at the time of the attack on Lachenman's dog.
In support of her claim that the trial court should have allowed evidence of the subsequent attacks, Lachenman cites Hardsaw v. Courtney, 665 N.E.2d 603, 609 (Ind. Ct. App. 1996), wherein the court stated, "we cannot agree with the [defendants] that the jury's consideration of vicious propensity here should have been limited only to the dog's prior acts." At first blush, this statement could be read to support Lachenman's claims. However, at issue in Hardsaw was whether the jury was correctly instructed that it could consider the dog's behavior on the incident leading to the claim of negligence to infer vicious propensity and the owner's knowledge thereof. Specifically, in Hardsaw, the jury was instructed that a dog which, through sudden pain or fright, involuntarily snaps and, having done so proceeds to savage its victim, is demonstrating vicious propensity. Id. at 608. The defendants claimed the instruction was in error in that the proper question before the jury should have been what was known to the defendants at the time of their dog's attack, i.e. what their dog had done in the past, and that their dog's attack on the plaintiff was insufficient to demonstrate vicious propensity or their knowledge thereof. Id. at 609. Thus, the question in Hardsaw was whether the dog's behavior during the attack on the plaintiff was relevant evidence regarding vicious propensity, or whether only evidence regarding the dog's prior behavior could be considered. It is in this context that the court held that the jury's consideration of vicious propensity should not have been limited only to the dog's prior acts. We do not read Hardsaw as supporting the notion that subsequent acts by a dog are relevant to the question of a dog's vicious propensity, and the dog's owner's knowledge thereof, at the time of the attack in question.
Furthermore, we agree with the Stices that the prejudicial effect of evidence of subsequent attacks would outweigh whatever little relevance such evidence would possess. The relevant question here is one of the vicious propensity of the Stices' dogs and whether the Stices knew or should have known of this vicious propensity at the time of the alleged negligence-the attack on Lachenman's dog. See Poznanski ex rel. Poznanski v. Horvath, 788 N.E.2d 1255, 1259 (Ind. 2003) (generally, owners of domestic animals may be held liable for harm caused by their pet only if the owner knows or has reason to know that the animal has dangerous propensities). We see little relevance in the dogs' subsequent behavior on this issue. In fact, we fail to see how the subsequent attacks can have any bearing upon the Stices' knowledge at that time. Thus, any evidence regarding the subsequent attacks involving the Stices' dogs would be unduly prejudicial compared to the relevance of such evidence, which is minimal or non-existent.
We find support for our conclusion in Wohlwend v. Edwards, 796 N.E.2d 781 (Ind. Ct. App. 2003), wherein the plaintiff, who was injured in an accident allegedly caused by the defendant's driving while intoxicated, wished to present evidence in support of her claim for punitive damages that the defendant, after the accident involving the plaintiff, was subsequently arrested twice for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. We held that the relevance of the evidence of the defendant's subsequent conduct was substantially outweighed by the danger that the jury would use such evidence to punish the defendant for his subsequent acts instead of t
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