Summary: Celebrity lawyer Perry Wander is helping file a $500,000 lawsuit for two Swedish women who were mauled by dogs in Arizona.
In 2015, two Swedish women were attacked by dogs in a Camp Verde, Arizona home. The violent incident left the women with scars and a slew of medical bills, and now they are suing the pet owners for $500,000.
Plaintiffs Alva Lantz and Lovisa Jansson hired attorney Perry Wander, who has worked with celebrity clients such as Lindsay Lohan and Warren Beatty, to sue pet owners, Derek and Lisa Marie Mina.
Wander told Phoenix New Times that the attack was “vicious” and that the plaintiffs intended to go to trial if they weren’t able to “recover fair compensation.”
Lantz is a foreign exchange student from Sweden who was living in the Minas’ home when the attack occurred on October 21, 2015. That day, her friend Jansson was visiting from Sweden, and the two women were planning to go on a road trip together. The defendants were at work when one of the couple’s dogs escaped his cage and got into an altercation with another dog. Lantz tried to break up the fight, and that’s when the first dog “lunged” at her, knocking her down. According to the complaint, the dogs proceeded to bite and attack her before going after Jansson.
“[Lantz] felt an excruciating pain in her ankle; Patches was biting into her left leg and through her Achilles [tendon],” the complaint states. “Once she broke free of the dog’s bite, she was unable to walk, became faint and fell to the ground.”
Lantz called 911, and when police, an ambulance, and animal control arrived, they found the Northern Arizona University student immobilized. Both women were given stitches at the hospital, and their lawyer said that they continued to seek medical care when they embarked on their scheduled road trip. These additional procedures included surgery to remove bone fragments and dog teeth. Their medical bills totaled to almost $75,000, and they said that they also suffered mental anguish.
According to Wander, the dog who had escaped his cage has since been put down. Before the attack, he was allegedly known to be aggressive.
Wander said that although the defendants were negligent, his real financial target is their insurance company, CSAA Insurance Group, which is a division of AAA Insurance and has refused to settle with the Swedish victims. He said that is unable to directly sue the insurance company, but he hopes that this lawsuit will get the company to finally pay the women what they deserve.
A hearing date has not yet been scheduled.
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Source: Phoenix New Times
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
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