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279 S.C. 521

Conoley v. Riel

Decided April 21, 1983

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently April 1999

3 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“domestic animals are not presumed to be dangerous to persons, and before recovery of damages may be had against the owner, the injured party must prove that the particular animal[ ] was of a dangerous, or vicious nature, and that his dangerous propensity was either known, or should have been known to the owner. The negligence that imposes liability upon the owner is the keeping of a dangerous animal with knowledge of its dangerous tendencies, or in the failure to restrain it from injuring persons....”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Nesbitt v. Lewis

Relies on Mungo v. Bennett · McQuaig Ex Rel. McQuaig v. Brown

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1983-04-21

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Gregory, Justice

¶1(concurring):

¶2I agree with the majority opinion and the concurring and dissenting opinion as they hold the evidence creates a jury issue. Since this is the only issue before the Court, I concur in the result only.

Harwell, Justice

¶3(concurring and dissenting):

¶4I concur in the result reached by the majority opinion inasmuch as it holds the evidence creates a jury issue. I disagree, however, with that portion of the opinion which labels as antiquated our “dog bite” rule enunciated in Mungo v. Bennett, 238 S. C. 79, 119 S. E. (2d) 522 (1961).

¶5Our rule requires that a party injured by a domestic animal who is seeking to recover damages from the animal’s owner must prove that the animal was of a dangerous or vicious nature and that the animal’s owners know or should have known of the dangerous propensity. I believe this rule properly disposes of issues in dog bite cases.

¶6Justice Littlejohn stated that the adoption of S. C. Code Ann. § 15-75-30 (1976) created a paradoxical situation between parents and pet owners. See, McQuaig v. Brown, 270 S. C. 512, 242 S. E. (2d) 688 (1978), (J. Littlejohn concurring), that code section places strict liability on parents of children who intentionally damage another’s property. That law further provides a limit of $1,000 on that liability. The legislature *525did not enact a similar law in regards to domestic animals. Until it does, I believe our common law rule should remain unaltered.

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