LA Rams player to pay $150,000 in dog bite lawsuit

June 20, 2017

In early May 2017, a jury concluded that Dominique Easley, a defensive tackle for Los Angeles Rams, should pay Wiley Brown $149,000 for a dog bite that he suffered during an uninvited visit to Easley’s home. While Easley was out of town in April 2014, he rented a townhouse in Boca Raton where he stayed with Chucky, his red-haired, 2-year-old pit bull.

During his absence, Easley asked neighbor and friend Shelby Mitchell to walk and feed Chucky. When Mitchell went to the townhouse to take care for Chucky, she was accompanied by Chenise Miller, a friend who was dating Brown at the time. Mitchell, who reportedly appeared nervous to the couple, had asked Miller and Brown to assist her with the dog as she had previously.

Various parties told different accounts about the events that followed during the visit to Easley’s home. Chucky seemed playful at first and tried to jump on Mitchell, who then became scared and retreated into a bathroom. However, in the following moments, the dog mauled Brown, inflicting lacerations on his ankle and arm, which were later treated at a local hospital.

According to his attorney, the law supported Brown so that he won the lawsuit despite the uncertainty of other legal issues and the outcome of any appeal. His client was additionally unable to tryout at a recruiting event for a new NFL-caliber rugby league after demonstrating that he could not run during the tryout, ruining his dreams.

Ultimately, jurors decided Brown was entitled to $59,000 for injuries sustained and $90,000 for pain and suffering.

Brown was not the only person Chucky, who was euthanized, had bitten over the course of his short life. Previously, the pit bull had bitten an acquaintance of Easley’s, Easley himself, and Bethany Borton, an animal care and control worker for Palm Beach County, as she and other workers were handling him before he was euthanized.

If you or a loved one have been the victim of a dog bite, you might be entitled to compensation, depending on the breed and history of the canine. Contact our law firm for more information about your rights.