Fishman v. Kotts
Colorado Court of Appeals
179 P.3d 232 (2007)
- Written by Kyli Cotten, JD
Facts
Vicky Fishman (plaintiff) and three companions were riding horses along a public road. When Fishman approached the property of Nickolas and Judith Kotts (defendants), the Kottses’ dogs ran into the road and began nipping at Fishman’s horse’s legs. Fishman leaned over and told the dogs to go home, at which time her horse reared up and fell backwards onto Fishman. Fishman suffered injuries as a result. Fishman filed suit against the Kottses, alleging common-law negligence and negligence per se. Fishman’s negligence per se argument hinged on a county ordinance that made it unlawful for an owner of a dog to allow the dog to run at-large without the accompaniment of said owner. At trial, the court permitted Fishman to refer to the ordinance and argue that its violation constituted negligence per se. However, the trial court did not instruct the jury that the Kottses’ failure to comply with the ordinance was negligence per se. The jury returned a verdict for the Kottses. Fishman appealed, arguing that the trial court erred in not instructing the jury that the Kottses’ violation of the ordinance was negligence per se.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Terry, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 814,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.