The family’s lawyer, Tucker Stanclift, filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court against the owner of the dog, which in a span of less than a month in 2011 bit two people and was the subject of a “dangerous dog” prosecution in Moreau Town Court.
The dog’s owner, Michael N. Christon of Feeder Dam Road, acknowledged during a June 2011 interview the dog had gone after Kadyn, but said the dog was trying to “lick” the girl and scratched her face instead of biting it.
The puncture wounds to Kaydn’s face required 36 stitches to close.
Nearly 20 months after the attack, the Creels are still waiting for those bills to be paid, despite a successful lawsuit that resulted in a judgment against Christon.
Stanclift said the case is an example of a loophole in the legal system that his firm is trying to close.
“He (Christon) has abused the system and abused Kaydn,” Stanclift said.
Five months after the attack, Stanclift’s office filed a lawsuit against Christon. It was personally served on Christon, but Stanclift’s staff received no response to it.
When Christon did not respond to the court within three months and missed court appearances over several more months, Stanclift’s office was awarded a default judgment for $107,694 in state Supreme Court last July. That judgment covered medical bills, court costs and $90,000 in damages.
The judgment was served on Christon in September, and a subpoena seeking information about his assets was sent to his home via certified mail but returned unaccepted.
While lawyers will often seek to put liens on property owned by those against whom they get judgments, the house where Christon lives has been placed in a “trust” along with two other neighboring properties that had been owned by the Christon family.
Because he does not own the property, no lien could be sought against it. The dog’s owner was said to have been renting the home, but there does not appear to be any renter’s or homeowner’s insurance, Stanclift said.
Stanclift said it appears his firm’s only option is an effort to “invade” the trust, an onerous legal process.
“There’s a huge hole in the system for people who just ignore the legal process,” Stanclift said.
Because of the stonewalling, Stanclift said his office has also been unable to determine which Michael N. Christon actually owns the dog that was to blame for the attack.
Stanclift said there are apparently three people — Michael N. Christon, Michael N. Christon Jr. and Michael N. Christon III — with that name in the area, at least two of them listed as living or having lived in the homes owned by the trust set up in 2008.
A man who answered the phone Wednesday at the only public listing for Michael N. Christon on Feeder Dam Road said he was the father of the Michael N. Christon who owned the dog.
He said his son does not have a phone and he did not know how to contact him, and he said he would not pass on a message asking him to call a reporter.
He did, however, defend the dog and downplay the incident involving Kaydn, saying it only “scratched” the girl and that her injuries were minor.
Photos that show multiple puncture wounds to the girl’s face, some down to the muscle, seem to belie that statement.
A note left at the 142 Feeder Dam Road home on Wednesday, asking Christon to call a reporter, did not result in a call as of late Thursday.
No dogs were evident at the home.
Stanclift said his office has dealt with an increase in cases where targets of lawsuits simply ignore court action and judgments.
Statistics kept by the Warren County Clerk’s Office seem to bear that out. County Clerk Pam Vogel said the number of judgments her staff entered last year dropped by about 8 percent, but the judgment “executions” — where lawyers take steps to enforce and collect on judgments — rose 60 percent between 2011 and 2012, from 32 to 51.
“The staff has been seeing more cases where people are saying, ‘I got a judgment but nothing’s happened,’” Vogel said.
(Post Star - February 14, 2013)
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