Dog attack lawsuit breaks Ohio barriers

AKRON -- It's a court case that could shake-up rules across Ohio and at the heart of it all is a tiny Yorkie named Niko.

Niko was attacked by a neighbor's dog. The injuries left his owners with thousands of dollars in vet bills. So, the dog's owners took their neighbor to court, and won.

Back in June, Tristan Lawrence says she let Niko outside to use the restroom in the front yard. As she was returning, the rottweiler attacked.

The rottweiler bit Niko so hard he lost a kidney and barely survived. After more than $5,500 of emergency surgery, Niko did recover.

But when Tristan went to her neighbor to get reimbursed for her bills, they told her they weren?t going to pay anything.

So Tristan and her mother, Sharon, took the neighbor to court.

This week, an Akron Municipal Court jury ruled in their favor.

According to Ohio law, a person is only entitled to recover the fair market value of the property. Dogs are considered property, so Tristan was only entitled to $899, the amount she paid for Niko.

The Akron jury however, determined Tristan should get the full $5,500, she paid for medical bills, plus court costs. Tristan says their biggest victory of all is that they still have Niko. Niko is almost fully recovered from the attack, though he?s now a lot more skittish than he used to be.

Channel 3 did stop by the neighbor?s home to get their side of the story, but they said they didn?t want to talk.