St. Charles Woman Files Suit Against Dog Owners, Says Rottweilers Attacked Her 'Like A Chew Toy'
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Kane County family on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the owners of two Rottweilers who viciously attacked a 51-year-old woman in December.
The Cavanagh Law Group said the injuries Laura Kizman suffered were so severe that she spent three weeks in the hospital.
The lawsuit was filed against the owners of the Rottweilers, Steven and Ann Dorando, outside whose St. Charles home attorneys said the attack happened. The Dorandos are accused of failing to take proper precautions to control the dogs.
Attorneys said Kizman was jogging near her home on Dec. 13 when the dogs "inexplicably attacked her and began using her like a chew toy. One had her by the leg and the other had her by the scalp."
Attorneys alleged that Kizman would have died if a man with a gun and a concealed carry license had not shot and killed one of the dogs.
"If he had not acted then, I would have been killed. I kept telling myself to hold on and stay conscious for my kids and my husband, but I thought I was going to die. The pain was so intense," Kizman said in a news release.
One of the owners of the dogs, as well as a man driving by in his car who witnessed the attack, tried and failed to get the dogs off Kizman, attorneys said. The attack only stopped after nearly 10 minutes after a man shot one of the dogs, attorneys said.
Kizman was taken Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva, where she underwent emergency surgery. Doctor needed to use six worth of sutures on Kizman, and she is still doing intense physical therapy and requires a walker, the lawsuit said.
The physical and emotional injuries Laura suffered from this horrific attack were extremely severe. Her very difficult recovery still continues and she will deal with lasting injuries from this for the rest of her life.," Kizman's attorney, Timothy J. Cavanagh, said in the release. "This attack would not have happened if the Dornados had been responsible dog owners. They were aware their dogs could be dangerous yet they did not take proper precautions to restrain or train the dogs so they would not go after people."
The Dorandos are accused in the lawsuit of violating the Illinois Animal Control Act – which holds the owners of dogs liable in attacks.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
