Dog escaped broken fence; landlord sued. Settlement in Delaware County

Tenant owned a dog that escaped through a hole in the fenced-in yard. I sent a letter to the tenant asking for her renter’s insurance information, and she told me she didn’t have that. I decided to then put the landlord on notice of the incident, arguing that even though it wasn’t his dog, the incident would not have occurred had he kept the fence in good repair. The tenant told me that she had complained to her landlord about the problem with the fence, and he did nothing to correct it. The landlord’s insurance company denied the claim, arguing it was not their insured’s dog. I sued the landlord under a simple negligence theory arguing that had the fence been fixed properly, the dog could not have escaped. After a 3 day jury trial, the jury agreed and returned a very favorable verdict for my client.