Dogsbite.org, Founder of the Pit Bull Lottery?
By WhoIsColleen
Updated: June 19, 2014
Colleen Lynn started Dogsbite.org as an ‘educational’ site to raise awareness for public welfare regarding dangerous breed dogs, specifically “pit bulls.”
Or, did she?
Since the beginning of Dogsbite.org (also known as DBO), lawsuits have added up, after encouragement from members of DBO. For instance, DBO member and Daxtonsfriends.com founder Jeffrey Borchardt has repeatedly stated how he personally has sent new clients to self-proclaimed “dog bite attorney extraordinaire” Kenneth Phillips.
It has long been understood among the advocacy world that many members of the Dogsbite.org cult-like group have what is commonly referred to today as the “sue ‘em mentality.” Ironically, they use the argument with lawmakers when lobbying for breed specific legislation that bans and heavy regulations, such as large insurance policies, are necessary to protect potential ‘victims’ of serious dog bites. Claims are made publicly in nearly every article’s comment section (and have been for years) that usually a victim faces financial ruin as the result of mounting medical bills, lost time from work, and will never be the same again so, “No amount of money can ever compensate a person for this “loss of self.”
Clearly, that isn’t the case. While statistics indicate that dog bites have shown a downward trend, insurance settlements continue to break records. According to a 2010 Chicago Tribune article, the cost of dog-bite claims is up 30 percent since 2003 while the number of dog-bite claims was down 2 percent over that same period, to 16,586 in 2009. Let’s just take a peek at a few of the Dogsbite.org members own declarations of victory.
A woman operating a large breed rescue was surprised to get a settlement offer from a pit bull owners insurance after the owners of the dog attacked her small dog and bit her thumb as she intervened. According to DBO members arguments, pit bull owners do not have insurance and never pay anything, however in this case, the ‘victims’ medical and vet bills were paid out-of-pocket by the pit bull’s owners.
This mom is full of happiness after receiving a six-figure award for her child after his attack. She goes on to also urge fighting within the judicial system for money for others, and concludes with a familiar message, very similar to that posted by Colleen Lynn on Dogsbite.org’s pages.
This father thanks Jesus for his child’s six-figure settlement, even though it seems this victim’s family may not have carried insurance themselves.
Of course, the pay-outs continue to climb, just this month Superior Court Judge Stan Rumbaugh ruled that a $1.12 MILLION DOLLAR award be paid to family members after Nga Woodhead passed away from a heart attack a week after a dog attack. Charles Woodard’s attorney noted that “…the family probably won’t be able to collect the debt. He said it becomes part of an official record and sends a message to owners of dangerous dogs who do not take proper steps to restrain them.”
One of the largest pay-outs to date was handed down in August of 2011 toSue Gorman after she was attacked and seriously injured. The court found that Ms. Gorman should be awarded @2.2 MILLION DOLLARS after deciding the county was 42% responsible for the attack based on knowledge of the two attacking dogs from prior complaints. The remaining percentage of blame was heavily assigned to co-owners of one of the two dogs while the balance of 5% blame assigned to the second dogs’ owner.
This writer supports actions that hold irresponsible and reckless owners accountable. And my hope is that these settlements will send a striking message to all dog owners to keep their dogs restrained, contained, and controlled at all times.
However, what I do not support is the “Lawsuit Lottery” that appears to be wreaking havoc among the Dogsbite.org members! Should a dog bite victim be compensated for any losses? Of course. But scamming people out of money based on donations is another beast in itself.
The nation has been in an uproar over a Kentucky Fried Chicken employee allegedly asking a dog attack victim to leave their establishment due to the scars on her face. KFC is investigating the matter, but in the meantime, the child’s donation page went from asking for $10,000, to $100,000, and is now at $200,000. KFC also committed to donating $30,000 for the incident before even concluding their investigation. Perhaps the company should finish that first. According to an eye witness that wishes to remain anonymous, she was in the restaurant that day when the child’s grandmother complained about ‘other children staring’ and requested the other children and families be asked to leave. When the grandmother was informed the restaurant employees could not banish the other families, allegedly the grandmother became irate, causing a scene, and was then asked to leave.
Still, media outlets nationwide picked up on the story sending people into a fury over the alleged treatment of the child, and prompting donations to climb into the SIX FIGURE range. WICLnews and other media outlets hoped for interviews with the family, however the Victoria’s Victories Facebook page posted a statement that “they hadn’t expected this thing to get so out of hand.”
Now, we have a new scam popping up. It seems it never takes long for people to jump on a bandwagon when there is easy money to be made from innocent people with big hearts. The Adam Lewis page started making its rounds on Facebook today asking for donations to hit a $2000. goal. Keeping the amount small might have kept it hush-hush enough that people would meet such a goal, or maybe even surpass it.
But how do we know it’s a fake you wonder? The pictures posted as Adam Lewis, child of Amanda Lewis (nice, generic name) happens to be the same child that was attacked by the dog now infamously known as “Mickey.” The scammer claims that “Adam” was attacked by only ONE pit bull on May 19th and suffered horrible injuries, as as any visitor can see from the pictures, which, in fact the real attack victim did indeed suffer greatly as the result of an irresponsible and reckless babysitter in the sitters AZ home…but the real victim isn’t named Adam Lewis, or even named Adam.
This type of Lawsuit Lottery is a direct result of the Dogsbite.org members actively seeking out victims, searching through endless media outlets for any word or phrase that may lead them to a dog bite victim, where they encourage lawsuits and give clients to dog bite lawyers, then push said victims to join them in fighting for breed specific legislation.
While this writer, once upon a time, attempted to write unbiased reports that would permit a reader to reach their own conclusion, facts and evidence continue to surface that leads to only one conclusion.
Dog owners have the responsibility to community to protect from dog bites and serious attacks just as ‘victims’ groups have a responsibility to protect communities from scams that result from their promotion of gaining millions of dollars from the unsuspecting publ
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