A pet duck attack has led to a $275,000 lawsuit after a woman claims that her neighbor’s waterfowl pet ambushed her and caused significant damage.
The suit is being brought by Cynthia Ruddell, a 62-year-old from Washougal, Washington. Ruddell claims that she was staying with her mother in Oregon when a neighbor’s pet duck launched into an attack for seemingly no reason. The woman tried to run away from the duck, but ended up falling, breaking her right wrist and spraining her elbow and shoulder.
The suit claims that the duck’s owner, Lolita Rose, did not properly control her pet or “warn or otherwise inform neighbors of her duck’s dangerous propensity in attacking individuals.”
Ruddell is seeking $25,000 to cover her medical expenses and another $250,000 for pain and suffering, including the toll her injuries have taken on her life.
Though the case of the pet duck attack is making headlines, Ruddell’s lawyer, Gregory Price, said the lawsuit isn’t as sensational as it appears. He believes that Rose’s insurance will cover the claims, but that filing a lawsuit was a simple precaution because a second surgery on Ruddell’s wrist happened outside the two-year statute of limitation on claims.
Price noted that Ruddell isn’t happy with the unwanted attention the pet duck attack has brought her.
“I’ve learned a lesson,” he said. “In any future lawsuit I’ll talk about my client being attacked by a domestic animal. Not by a duck.”
The lawsuit claims that the duck had a reputation around the neighborhood for being aggressive, and had attacked before.
“We had neighbors that indicated this duck was a crazy duck that attacked kids at the school bus stop and other people before,” Price told KATU .
The pet duck attack will likely be the last for a while. After the incident Rose had the aggressive waterfowl put down.
