Now Michael Miller, one of the attorneys who represented the victim in court recently, is trying to put together a fundraiser to help pay the $30,000 in medical expenses the family has incurred. Miller hopes to have the fundraiser as soon as possible because the family is facing collection on the bills, he said.
He is seeking entertainers willing to donate their performances and others who will give their time, service and financial contributions toward the fundraiser.
Miller has contacted some recording artists in the area but is still working to get commitments from them.
All proceeds will go toward Dakota’s Holt’s medical bills, Miller stressed.
Miller said the size of the judgment attests to the egregiousness of the attack. He has represented two clients in similar situations and his colleague, Evan Kaine, has represented four.
In Dakota’s case, he was awarded $450,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages.
But since the dog’s owner did not have insurance, Miller said, he does not expect that the family will collect any of it.
Dale Holt, the boy’s father, was laid off from his job two weeks before the incident occurred and the family did not have medical insurance, Miller said.
Dakota was 8 years old when he was attacked by a neighbor’s dog in July 2009.
Chaye Hawkins, who rented a home on Longfield Drive in the Riley Farms subdivision, owned a pit bull named “Rambo” which charged the boy after he and a friend played at Hawkins home, according to Miller.
Hawkins had been cited 12 times prior to Dakota’s attack for violations of the county’s leash law, according to Miller. One incident about two months before involved a bite that sent Hawkins’ next door neighbor to the hospital, Miller said. He also represented that neighbor in court.
The owner took the dog and moved from one rental property to another one down the street, he said.
On the day Dakota was attacked, Rambo bit him on the face and knocked him down, causing severe injuries to the boy’s face by tearing the tear duct on the left side and biting deep cuts into both sides of his face, Miller said.
“The bite was just terrible,” Miller said, adding that he had to fight back tears in court. “It broke my heart. That dog just tore the kid’s face apart.”
The dog left but returned after Animal Control and Emergency Medical Services were called to the scene and tried to bite emergency personnel, Miller said.
Dakota has undergone several surgeries, including reconstruction of his tear duct and nasal cavity, which caused a drooping eye. The severe scarring on his face has made him the target of repeated teasing at Beulah Elementary School, his father said in another newspaper interview.
Attempts to contact Dale Holt were unsuccessful as were attempts to contact Hawkins.
Hawkins, who had no renter’s insurance, has not attended any of the court proceedings, Miller said. Insurance would have paid most of the Dakota’s medical bills, he added.
“We lost track of her,” Miller said. “Needless to say we will be trying to locate her to collect the judgment but we don’t anticipate collecting it.”
Neither is the landlord responsible, he said.
“We tried everything we could to find some insurance on this case, but we were aware that the landlord would not have responsibility,” said Miller.
Miller said he is disappointed in the lack of legislation to address situations such as Dakota’s.
“We recognize that cars can be dangerous, so there is legislation that says if you have a car, you have to have liability insurance,” he said. “If you own a dog, you should also have liability insurance.”
Miller said the problem is not a breed-specific issue but a statistical one.
“The odds are higher that you are going to drive faster in a Corvette than a Taurus or a Pinto,” he said, “and the odds are that pit bulls probably bite more people than an Irish setter or a Labrador retriever.”
However, Miller is quick to say the responsibility lies with the owner and not the dog.
“Some people who have pit bulls are not responsible enough to have those types of dogs,” he said.
Anyone interested in participating in the fundraiser or would like to make donations may contact Miller at 770-942-2720.
(Times-Georgian - July 12, 2011)
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