Dog retaliation: driver wins lawsuit against city hall over stray dog attack

A motorcycle driver has won her first court case against the city authorities over a stray dog attack, Izvestia has learned. A resident of Tambov accused the local administration of failing to fulfill its duty to control the population of stray animals - the woman got into an accident and was injured after a dog rushed at her motorcycle. The district and regional courts sided with the plaintiff. They did not support the arguments of the administration that since there is a contract for catching stray animals - it means that the municipality is not inactive. The amount of compensation is small - 82 thousand rubles, but experts call the decision a precedent.

A dog attack led to a traffic accident and a court case

The city administration of Tambov lost the court on the claim of a motorcycle driver - the woman got into an accident because of a stray dog in June 2022. Maria Kriventseva demanded to compensate her for material and moral damage, as the accident, in her opinion, occurred due to inaction of local authorities. The proceedings between the city authorities and the motorcyclist took about two years. The court did not make a final decision until late 2024.

According to court records, the dog attacked Maria's motorcycle when she was riding down the street in Tambov - the animal jumped out of the tall grass on the dividing strip. Due to the impact, the girl could not cope with the control and fell off the motorcycle, skidding along the road. In the hospital, her injuries were assessed as minor harm to health.

After the accident, the victim appealed to the traffic police with a request to conduct an auto-technical examination, but she was refused, explaining that the expert-autotechnician will not be able to assess the actions of the dog. Then Maria Kriventseva filed a lawsuit in court for compensation for damages in the traffic accident.

In it, she pointed out that "the Tambov administration improperly performed the duties of catching stray animals, and MBU "Directorate of City Roads" improperly performed the duties of maintaining the highway - did not mow the grass on the dividing strip".

At the session of the court of first instance in May 2024, the representative of the city administration did not recognize the claims. She stated that the mayor's office had concluded a contract with a private organization for the capture and maintenance of neglected animals, respectively, she fulfilled her duties. And the directorate of city roads stated that the plaintiff had an opportunity to avoid hitting the dog, "visibility was not limited".

Nevertheless, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Tambov partially satisfied Kriventseva's claims, collecting in her favor from the city administration compensation for material and moral damages - 52 thousand and 30 thousand rubles respectively.

The mayor's office tried to challenge this decision. The appeal noted that even in the case of catching stray animals that do not show aggression should be returned to the habitat after vaccination, sterilization and tagging.

"This means that the presence of animals without owners on the territory of the city is a direct fulfillment of the law," the document said. It was also noted that the district court, "making a conclusion about the absence of violations of traffic rules on the part of the plaintiff, did not analyze the circumstances of the case, the mechanism of development of the accident, the actions of the driver."

Nevertheless, the Tambov Regional Court sided with the motorcyclist. In his decision, he noted that the prosecutors of the city districts have repeatedly sent to the administration submissions to eliminate violations of legislation on the responsible treatment of animals.

"The inaction of the administration of Tambov has been established, expressed in the untimely performance of duties to organize measures to catch dogs ... as well as in the improper exercise of control over the execution of the municipal contract," the decision reads. - In this regard, the responsibility for the damage caused by neglected animals should be imposed on the administration."

Why the decision is important

Russian courts have never before recovered damages from municipalities for vehicle damage and health damage caused to drivers by unattended animals, Ekaterina Solovieva, a representative of Maria Kriventseva and an expert from the People's Front, told Izvestia.

This is an important positive result for car owners, Petr Shkumatov, head of the "People's Front" working group "Protection of Motorists' Rights", told "Izvestia".

- All over the country stray dogs chew wheels, scratch bumpers, attack moving cars," he said. - And if due to inaction of local officials there was an incident and stray dogs caused damage to property and health of a citizen, then in this case the damage should be compensated from the budget. This decision survived the appeal, and other courts can now be guided by it.

Control over stray dogs in most cases is the responsibility of the municipality administration, said Valery Alekseev, head of the People's Front Investigation Bureau.

- In many regions this problem is ignored or solved formally. Officials say there is no money or there is no shelter. In fact, until the trouble happens, the problem is not solved systematically, there are no attempts to request additional funding from regional authorities," he said. - The most problematic are settlements of up to 100 thousand people with a large number of open landfills and abandoned industrial zones.

The expert noted that comprehensive measures are taken only in large cities - for example, in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan.

Who is obliged to look after dogs

According to the federal law on responsible treatment of animals, the authorities of the subjects and municipalities of the Russian Federation must themselves establish a procedure for catching unauthorized animals, said Anna Malafeeva, a lawyer of the Moscow Bar Association "Lobutev and Partners". Organizations can be engaged on a contractual basis to carry out these activities.

- If an animal cannot be returned to its natural environment, organizations must place them in shelters and keep them until they are transferred to new owners or natural death occurs," she said.

Attacks on people and vehicles occur because of ineffective measures to regulate the number of stray animals, said Anna Razinova, a lawyer on legal issues of handling pets.

- A huge number of criminal cases are being brought against officials for failing to exercise their authority to regulate the number of stray animals," said Vladimir Burmatov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. - If a stray animal, for example, has bitten someone, the official responsible for the conclusion of relevant contracts for the capture, construction of shelters and maintenance of animals will be held liable. And working with stray animals is as important as repairing roads or clearing snow.

"Izvestia" analyzed the media reports of the Tambov region about the situation with neglected animals. The Regional Management Center received about 480 complaints about them only from November 2024 to January 2025. In particular, a resident of a village in the Tambov region complained on social networks about packs of stray dogs running around playgrounds and other public places. Some of them looked sickly.

In October 2024, a pack of dogs attacked a child at a playground in Tambov. According to statements by regional publications, residents of the neighborhood have repeatedly appealed to the authorities because of problems with stray animals.

"Izvestia" sent an inquiry to the city administration about how the population of neglected animals is controlled now. At the time of publication of the material there was no response. But on the "VKontakte" page of the Regional Management Center, the administration of the Tambov municipal district responds to complaints by saying that "sterilized animals without owners, with indelible or indelible tags, except for animals without owners who show unmotivated aggression, are not subject to capture". Nevertheless, residents are promised to send an application for capture based on the appeals.