Paying for vet bill

[Anonymous]

Are you asking this person to pay the whole bill or only half?
Sounds like you were at fault too for not looking after your dog. You could have prevented this accident. The driver did not see the dog. Dog was on the road, not your yard.
Was there damage to the car?

[Anonymous]

Without contacting insurance or the police, she is under no particular obligation to pay the vets bill. You tell her you need her insurance information or you will have to call the police to file a report so you can call your umbrella policy. If she doesn’t want to have it on her record so,offers to pay you out of pocket.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I think you made two mistakes, OP:

I would not have agreed to such veterinary intervention. Too expensive and not worth it if the dog appears to be fine. Thankfully, I have a vet who is down-to-earth and not out for money: he would have treated my dog for his visible injuries, and told me to come back if there were more alarming symptoms. This is pet, and beloved for sure, but not a human. Since I would not explore my dog for possible internal injuries without very very good cause, I would not stick my neighbor with such a bill either.

It is extremely rude to drop off a request for payment in such a delicate situation without first having the courtesy to explain why you think your neighbor is responsible for the bill. Why was your dog in the street? Was is unleashed and roaming? Was it leashed and was the person holding the leash nearly hurt? All these data points will modify the pressure on the driver to pay or not pay the vet bill.

However you already did what you did.
Please talk to your neighbor in person and ask for a contribution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you asking this person to pay the whole bill or only half?
Sounds like you were at fault too for not looking after your dog. You could have prevented this accident. The driver did not see the dog. Dog was on the road, not your yard.
Was there damage to the car?

What!? The dog was leashed and in a crosswalk the neighbor was supposed to yield to!? What else could OP have done?

When my horse was is in a trailer accident I had the vet come out for an emergency visit. Which was good because even though not obviously hurt, she was in shock and needed a sedative to reduce the risk of things like colic resulting. The shipper who has the accident paid the vet bill in full.

[Anonymous]

Good grief, some of the "advice" on here is terrible. Im a lawyer and used to do some personal injrybwork, including car accidents. I did plaintiff and defense cases.

OP's husband and dog were in the crosswalk and the neighbor had a stop sign. She is liable for 100% of the bill. It was perfectly reasonable to take the dog to the vet to check for non-visibile injuries after being hit by a car. The vet bill is reasonable.

OP, knock on her door and ask for her car insurance info. If she won't give it to you, get her license plate, call the police, and ask them to run her plate and give you the insurance info. They will preparw an accident report, but will not arrest her or give her any ticket, because they didn't see what happened.

Call her insurance company and file a claim.

[Anonymous]

OP, I think you have to ask your neighbor directly for how much of the bill you want her to cover. Just putting the bill in her mailbox is not direct enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to ask her for her insurance info and if she won’t give it to you then you have to call the police and have them get it and give it to you (accident report). They aren’t going to arrest her—is that what you’re afraid of?

Yes, you need to do that.

I had a similar situation once. I was walking my dog and got to the crosswalk a second before the car did . The car stopped and I started walking and then then he started driving! He nearly hit my dog and kept going. He was completely oblivious and was simply going through the motions without paying attention. I was able to get his plates and call the police nonemergency number. It ended up being a young kid and it was a lesson for him to pay attention. The responding officer called me back and told me he had no idea I was even there. The kid was very apologetic.

A vet bill can be very expensive. Even if there is nothing wrong with the dog they still have to do all the tests determine that. 1k seems steep but remember it’s an emergency. You pay premium for emergencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:File a police report.

OP here. I do not want to call the police. I don't see the reason to get her in criminal trouble.

I don’t know what your other options are if she will not pay.

The police handle criminal matters and whether she pays is a civil issue.

Yes I understand. Did you hire an attorney? You can sue her in civil court.

You seem like a gem of a neighbor.

No, I have not hired a lawyer. That would cost way more than the vet.

You think calling the police and suing her is reasonable and I'm the bad neighbor?

I think your passive-aggressive nature is ridiculous. You want your neighbor to pay, but you refuse to ask directly or take any other steps to ensure payment. I think you’re ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Sorry, I think you made two mistakes, OP:

I would not have agreed to such veterinary intervention. Too expensive and not worth it if the dog appears to be fine. Thankfully, I have a vet who is down-to-earth and not out for money: he would have treated my dog for his visible injuries, and told me to come back if there were more alarming symptoms. This is pet, and beloved for sure, but not a human. Since I would not explore my dog for possible internal injuries without very very good cause, I would not stick my neighbor with such a bill either.

It is extremely rude to drop off a request for payment in such a delicate situation without first having the courtesy to explain why you think your neighbor is responsible for the bill. Why was your dog in the street? Was is unleashed and roaming? Was it leashed and was the person holding the leash nearly hurt? All these data points will modify the pressure on the driver to pay or not pay the vet bill.

However you already did what you did.
Please talk to your neighbor in person and ask for a contribution.

The neighbor's here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Sorry, I think you made two mistakes, OP:

I would not have agreed to such veterinary intervention. Too expensive and not worth it if the dog appears to be fine. Thankfully, I have a vet who is down-to-earth and not out for money: he would have treated my dog for his visible injuries, and told me to come back if there were more alarming symptoms. This is pet, and beloved for sure, but not a human. Since I would not explore my dog for possible internal injuries without very very good cause, I would not stick my neighbor with such a bill either.

It is extremely rude to drop off a request for payment in such a delicate situation without first having the courtesy to explain why you think your neighbor is responsible for the bill. Why was your dog in the street? Was is unleashed and roaming? Was it leashed and was the person holding the leash nearly hurt? All these data points will modify the pressure on the driver to pay or not pay the vet bill.

However you already did what you did.
Please talk to your neighbor in person and ask for a contribution.

The neighbor's here.

Sorry to disappoint, I am not the neighbor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Sorry, I think you made two mistakes, OP:

I would not have agreed to such veterinary intervention. Too expensive and not worth it if the dog appears to be fine. Thankfully, I have a vet who is down-to-earth and not out for money: he would have treated my dog for his visible injuries, and told me to come back if there were more alarming symptoms. This is pet, and beloved for sure, but not a human. Since I would not explore my dog for possible internal injuries without very very good cause, I would not stick my neighbor with such a bill either.

It is extremely rude to drop off a request for payment in such a delicate situation without first having the courtesy to explain why you think your neighbor is responsible for the bill. Why was your dog in the street? Was is unleashed and roaming? Was it leashed and was the person holding the leash nearly hurt? All these data points will modify the pressure on the driver to pay or not pay the vet bill.

However you already did what you did.
Please talk to your neighbor in person and ask for a contribution.

The neighbor's here.

Sorry to disappoint, I am not the neighbor.

Doesn't change your poor behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Sorry, I think you made two mistakes, OP:

I would not have agreed to such veterinary intervention. Too expensive and not worth it if the dog appears to be fine. Thankfully, I have a vet who is down-to-earth and not out for money: he would have treated my dog for his visible injuries, and told me to come back if there were more alarming symptoms. This is pet, and beloved for sure, but not a human. Since I would not explore my dog for possible internal injuries without very very good cause, I would not stick my neighbor with such a bill either.

It is extremely rude to drop off a request for payment in such a delicate situation without first having the courtesy to explain why you think your neighbor is responsible for the bill. Why was your dog in the street? Was is unleashed and roaming? Was it leashed and was the person holding the leash nearly hurt? All these data points will modify the pressure on the driver to pay or not pay the vet bill.

However you already did what you did.
Please talk to your neighbor in person and ask for a contribution.

The neighbor's here.

Sorry to disappoint, I am not the neighbor.

Doesn't change your poor behavior.

Still doesn't make me the neighbor
And I stand by what I said. OP could have handled it better of she really wanted her money. As in, actually talk to the neighbor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the 7 day mark, drop off a note explaining you'll be filing in small claims court at the end of the 2nd week if you don't hear back from her.

+1 And follow the advice to file a police report.

[Anonymous]

How long was the leash? Was it a short tight one or a longer extensible one?

That matters, esp with the woman saying she did stop and genuinely didn’t see your dog, and there were no injuries to the dog and the car came nowhere near hitting your husband. What if she had a dash cam? What would it show? Many people have them these days.

I think $1k under the circumstances is steep as well. Especially with very slow/low impact and no reason to think there were injuries (and none found). Especially with the majority of the bill being just because it was “an emergency”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Sorry, I think you made two mistakes, OP:

I would not have agreed to such veterinary intervention. Too expensive and not worth it if the dog appears to be fine. Thankfully, I have a vet who is down-to-earth and not out for money: he would have treated my dog for his visible injuries, and told me to come back if there were more alarming symptoms. This is pet, and beloved for sure, but not a human. Since I would not explore my dog for possible internal injuries without very very good cause, I would not stick my neighbor with such a bill either.

It is extremely rude to drop off a request for payment in such a delicate situation without first having the courtesy to explain why you think your neighbor is responsible for the bill. Why was your dog in the street? Was is unleashed and roaming? Was it leashed and was the person holding the leash nearly hurt? All these data points will modify the pressure on the driver to pay or not pay the vet bill.

However you already did what you did.
Please talk to your neighbor in person and ask for a contribution.

Excellent post