Grammer v. Lucking

Summary

The Nebraska Supreme Court reversed a summary judgment entered for dog owners in a strict liability action under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 54-601(1). The court held that the district court improperly considered only one definition of "chase" and failed to consider whether the dogs injured the plaintiff, because the statutory alternatives are disjunctive. The case was remanded for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. Section 54-601(1) applies when a dog kills, wounds, injures, worries, or chases a person; the statutory alternatives are disjunctive. The alternative definitions of "chase" likewise must be considered disjunctively rather than conjunctively.
2. The district court erred by granting summary judgment without considering every relevant definition of "chase" and whether the dogs "injured" Joleen.
3. The court did not decide whether Donner's playful-or-mischievous-act limitation remained sound or was abrogated by the 1992 statutory amendment, because that issue was not dispositive where the district court had not considered all relevant statutory alternatives.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the district court erred by granting summary judgment after considering only one definition of "chase" under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 54-601(1).
2. Whether the statutory terms in § 54-601(1), including the alternative definitions of "chase" and the term "injuring," must be considered disjunctively.
3. Whether summary judgment was improper because the district court failed to consider whether the dogs injured Joleen within the meaning of § 54-601(1).
4. Whether the continued validity of Donner v. Plymate after the 1992 amendment adding "injuring" to § 54-601 was dispositive of the appeal.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded