Senate Bill Advances - Watch the DogsBite Blog
August 9, 2012
The Senate strict liability bill (SB 2) has advanced to a full Senate vote. The bill is expected to have enough votes to pass the Senate.
Because things are happening so rapidly, we ask that you watch the DogsBite.org Blog for the latest information. Tomorrow is the House hearing. We believe it will be far more acrimonious than today's hearing. The hearing begins at 1:30 pm EST and we will be live tweeting @Supportthecourt. By glancing over that Twitter feed now, you can quickly see how the Senate hearing went today.
The rift between the Senate and House is clear; there is a strong pull in the latter chamber to annhilate the Court's ruling in entirety and revert fully back to the common law prior to the Tracey Court's ruling -- the One Bite rule for all dog breeds and no liablity for landlords.
Follow the blog:
Anthony Solesky, Father of Pit Bull Mauling Victim, to Testify at Hearings
House Hearing
UPDATE 08/09/12: On Friday, the House Judiciary Committee will be hearing four bills introduced to undo the Court's ruling in Tracey v. Solesky (SB 2 is cross-filed as one of them). HB lr3527 filed by Del. Benjamin Kramer -- who has no compassion for dog bite victims -- is a strict liability law that pertains only when very serious injury and death occurs and if the injury did not occur due to the victim's "contributory negligence." Thus, the bill is a mockery of a strict liability law.
The other two bills, HB lr3535 also introduced by Del. Kramer, and HB lr3556 introduced by Del. Michael Smigiel, both seek to fully repeal the Tracey Court ruling by returning to the One Bite rule prior to the Court's decision. Neither Delegate wishes to see Maryland join 35 other U.S. states with a modern strict liability statute that provides many dog bite victims a remedy.
See: Blog post in full
Please write if you can and let House Judiciary Committee members know that One Free Mauling is unacceptable to the general public. Today's era is "personal responsibility for all" and that includes dog owners when their dog attacks.
Review past sample letters for help
House Judiciary Committee email addresses
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Copy the above block of email addresses as is, commas included, and paste into the To: area of your email.
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