ANIMALS
Postal worker bitten by dogs awarded $203K
On Dec. 5, 2012, a jury awarded $203,138 to a Postal Service letter carrier who was bitten by dogs while delivering mail. Kelly Tillerson was delivering mail to a home in the city of Beaumont that was leased to Nikol Conklin and Melissa DeBenedictis, when someone in the home opened the door, which allowed four dogs onto the porch. Tillerson was bitten by two of the dogs on her leg. Tillerson later alleged that Justin Graves and Winey Robbins owned the dogs that bit her. Graves and Robbins were subsequently added as defendants. The defendants disputed who owned the dogs; which dogs attacked the plaintiff; and who were technically the tenants of the house, as five dogs and four people were staying at the house at the time of the incident. The jury found Conklin 20 percent liable, Graves 30 percent liable, DeBenedictis, 40 percent liable and Robbins 10 percent liable
