Harris v. Anderson County Sheriff's Office

• Decision Date: 09 February 2009
• Docket Number: No. 26596.,26596.
• Citation: 673 S.E.2d 423
• Parties: Jennifer Marie HARRIS, Appellant, v. ANDERSON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE, Respondent.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

673 S.E.2d 423

Jennifer Marie HARRIS, Appellant, v. ANDERSON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE, Respondent.

No. 26596.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Heard November 5, 2008.

Filed February 9, 2009.

R. Lawton McIntosh, of McIntosh, Sherard & Sullivan, of Anderson, for Appellant.

Wm. Douglas Gray, of McNair Law Firm, of Anderson, for Respondent.

Justice KITTREDGE.

This appeal requires the Court to construe section 47-3-110 of the South Carolina Code (1987), the so-called dog bite statute. The narrow question before us is the meaning of the term "or" in section 47-3-110. The broader question requires us to discern the degree, if any, to which the Legislature retained the application of common law principles in section 47-3-110.

In construing the term "or" consistent with its common understanding as a disjunctive, we hold section 47-3-110 allows a plaintiff to pursue a statutory claim against the owner of the dog "or other person having the dog in his care or keeping." Because of the plain language in this statute, we conclude that the Legislature intended to allow a claim against the owner of the dog when another person has the dog in his care or keeping. Moreover, in light of the trial court's determination that statutory liability against a dog owner fundamentally rests on negligence concepts, we address the common law remnant retained in section 47-3-110. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the grant of summary judgment to the Anderson County Sheriff's Office and remand for trial.

I.

Deputy Todd Caron of the Anderson County Sheriff's Office kenneled his police dog (Sleuber) at the Happistance Veterinary Clinic (clinic) in Townville, South Carolina, while he was on vacation. Sleuber had a recent history of multiple unprovoked attacks, a history well known to Deputy Caron and the sheriff's office. Jennifer Harris worked at the clinic as a veterinary assistant. While kenneled at the clinic, Sleuber attacked Harris, severely injuring her. It is undisputed that Harris did not provoke the attack.

Harris pursued workers' compensation benefits from her employer, the clinic. Harris subsequently filed this lawsuit against the sheriff's office, asserting claims under section 47-3-110 and negligence. Cross-motions for summary judgment were filed. The circuit court focused on the statutory claim and, with respect to a dog owner's liability, read negligence principles into the statute. The circuit court reasoned that the sheriff's office was no longer in control of its police dog (and should not be held responsible) once care of the dog was relinquished to the clinic. In granting the sheriff's office summary judgment, the circuit court held that when a dog owner leaves his dog in the care of another, section 47-3-110 only permits a claim against the "other person having the dog in his care or keeping." Harris appealed, and we granted Rule 204(b), SCACR, certification.

II.

Summary judgment is governed by Rule 56, SCRCP. Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Our review is plenary, however, for we are presented with a question of statutory interpretation. Town of Summerville v. City of N. Charleston, 378 S.C. 107, 110, 662 S.E.2d 40, 41 (2008).

III.

A.

We begin our analysis with this Court's decision in Hossenlopp v. Cannon, 285 S.C. 367, 329 S.E.2d 438 (1985). In Hossenlopp, the Court was presented with a common law negligence claim arising from injuries caused by a dog. At the time, South Carolina adhered to what was commonly referred to as the "one free bite" rule. The "one free bite" rule imposed common law liability against a dog owner only when the owner knew or should have known of the dog's vicious propensities, that is, there was no liability for the first bite. In Hossenlopp, under our policy making role in the common law, we rejected the "one free bite" rule and imposed quasi-strict liability on dog owners by adopting the "California Rule" for dog bite liability. This shift in the common law is reflected in the Hossenlopp Court's adoption of the following jury instruction:

The law of California provides that the owner of any dog which bites a person while such person is on or in a public place or is lawfully on or in a private place, including the property of the owner of such dog, is liable for such damages as may be suffered by the person bitten regardless of whether or not the dog previously had been vicious, regardless of the owner's knowledge or lack of knowledge of any such viciousness, and regardless of whether or not the owner has been negligent in respect to the dog, provided, however, that if a person knowingly and voluntarily invites attack upon himself [herself], or if, when on the property of the dog owner, a person voluntarily, knowingly, and without reasonable necessity, exposes himself [herself] to the danger, the owner of the dog is not liable for the consequences.

Id. at 372, 329 S.E.2d at 441.

Hossenlopp represents the last time the Court addressed a dog bite case in a purely common law setting. The following year, 1986, the Legislature enacted section 47-3-110:

Whenever any person is bitten or otherwise attacked by a dog while the person is in a public place or is lawfully in a private place, including the property of the owner of the dog or other person having the dog in his care or keeping, the owner of the dog or other person having the dog in his care or keeping is liable for the damages suffered.... If a person provokes a dog into attacking him then the owner of the dog is not liable.

Section 47-3-110 was enacted in response to Hossenlopp. This transition from the common law to the statutory setting, of course, restricts our policy making role and concomitantly requires this Court to discern legislative intent. The juxtaposition of Hossenlopp to section 47-3-110 does, however, provide a strong frame of reference for ascertaining legislative intent. Section 47-3-110 retained Hossenlopp's strict liability against dog owners and additionally imposed liability on any other persons having the dog in their "care or keeping."

B.

"The cardinal rule of statutory construction is to ascertain and effectuate the intent of the [L]egislature." Hodges v. Rainey, 341 S.C. 79, 85, 533 S.E.2d 578, 581 (2000). The Court will give words their plain and ordinary meaning, and will not resort to a subtle or forced construction that would limit or expand the statute's operation. Auto Owners Ins. Co. v. Rollison, 378 S.C. 600, 609, 663 S.E.2d 484, 488 (2008). The Legislature unmistakably adopted a strict liability approach for injuries caused by dogs, save the situation when the injured party provoked the attack. Traditional principles of statutory construction bolster this interpretation.

In light of the remedial nature of the statute, and its plain language, we find the Legislature intended the word "or" in accordance with its common, disjunctive usage. Brewer v. Brewer, 242 S.C. 9, 14, 129 S.E.2d 736, 738 (1963) (noting that the use of the word "or" in a statute "is a disjunctive particle that marks an alternative"); see also Rollison, 378 S.C. at 609, 663 S.E.2d at 488 (observing that "`[a] statute remedial in nature should be liberally construed in order to accomplish the object[ive] sought'" (quoting Inabinet v. Royal Exch. Assurance of London, 165 S.C. 33, 36, 162 S.E. 599, 600 (1932))).

To construe the term "or" in an atypical manner, limiting the statutory claim of Harris to the clinic, would be inconsistent with the remedial and strict liability underpinnings of the statute. With the singular exception for the circumstance where the injured person provokes the attack, the Legislature has chosen to impose strict liability against dog owners and others having "the dog in [their] care or keeping." § 47-3-110 ("[T]he owner of the dog or other person having the dog in his care or keeping is liable for the damages suffered....").

Strict liability is a policy decision to impose liability regardless of fault. Relieving the dog owner of liability where the dog was in the care or keeping of another would be contrary to the statutory language and run counter to the manifest legislative intent of strict liability. Given the unambiguous language, allowing a plaintiff to sue either the owner of the dog or the party who assumes the care or keeping of the dog is entirely consistent with a logical construction of section 47-3-110. Investors Premium Corp. v. S.C. Tax Comm'n, 260 S.C. 13, 20, 193 S.E.2d 642, 645 (1973) (setting forth the Court's function in discerning legislative intent to interpret words in a statute in a way that both gives meaning to the use of the word and is logical).

The use of the term "or" in section 47-3-110 does not mandate a forced selection for an injured party. With the one exception noted in the statute, the owner of the dog is subject to liability for injuries caused by his dog. Where the person is injured while the dog is in the care or keeping of someone who is not the dog's owner, the injured party may pursue a statutory claim against the owner of the dog or the other person having the dog in his care or keeping.

C.

The dog owner posits two basic arguments to sustain the grant of summary judgment in its favor. First, we are asked to adopt the reasoning of the circuit court which overlaid negligence principles on section 47-3-110's imposition of liability on a dog owner. The circuit court essentially found that the dog owner was no longer in control (and hence not at-fault) once the dog was left at the veterinary clinic. While the statute does implicate considerations of control with respect to the "other person having the dog in his care or keeping," there is no such limitation with respect to the dog owner. Imposing a control requirement or other negligence principles by judicial fiat on the dog owner would impose requirements nowhere found in the statute....