You’re driving down the road and all of a sudden there is a cow in the road. You aren’t able to avoid hitting the cow. Your car is damaged and you are injured. Do you have a claim? The answer is probably YES!
In California and most states the owner of the cow is not automatically responsible. You need to show that the owner of the cow was careless in allowing the cow to be on the road.
I have done dozens of these cases in the past 33 years. It’s my experience that when a cow is on the road, we will almost always find the owner was careless. We usually find there was a problem with the fence or gates. Most of these cases settle but we take them to trial if the cow owner does not take responsibility.
A few years ago, I represented a client who was seriously injured by a cow. He was driving an 18 wheeler truck on a lonely highway in Colorado. It was the middle of the night. He was driving 55 mph. All of a sudden he saw a black cow right in the middle of the road. He could not avoid the cow and hit it head-on. The truck rolled over into a ditch. The insurance company for the ranch denied the claim. They said that the ranch had no idea how the cow got off the ranch. We filed the lawsuit in Federal Court in Colorado. We hired an expert to inspect the fences and gates where the cow was kept. He found that there was enough of a gap between the gate and fence post that a cow could wedge its head in between the gate and fence post and then squeeze through. After they took our expert’s deposition they changed their tune and took full responsibility.
I’m Glenn Guenard of Guenard & Bozarth, LLP. We routinely handle severe and catastrophic injuries that have a major effect on people’s lives. We have more than 60 years of experience representing injured people. We would be honored to represent you. We are totally committed to each client’s case because each client has a special story to be told. Call us anytime at (889)809-1075 or visit www.gblegal.com. My cell phone is (916) 296-7570 if you are not able to reach me at the office.
