My sister's dog bit the mail man last week. Now the mailman is asking for $500 or he will report it. Help?

Question

Need legal advise?

Answer 1

I am a postal worker. I was a city carrier and now am a rural route carrier.

Do not kid yourself, your mail man will report the dog bite regardless. We have to. If we have cell phones on us, we're supposed to call a supervisor immediately, or we are supposed to report it when we get back to the office. Plus when we get back we have to fill out an accident report. Your carrier is trying to blackmail you. Contact your post office's postmaster, and let them know what your carrier is up to. It is not at the carrier's discretion to make that kind of choice and give your sister that kind of ultimatum.

In most dog cases, once it's reported, you'll get a warning from police, especially if your dog was not tied up. They'll usually tell you if it happens again, the dog will have to be put down.

Have your sister contact her carrier's postmaster before you do anything, and tell them what is going on. And DO NOT let other people tell you that the carrier has the right to do this, because they do not. It is true they don't have to deliver if a dog is out, but they're not allowed to say "This dog bit me now you owe me $500 or else...." It is our job to be observant of things like this, and if we feel unsafe delivering we do not have to.

Answer 2

I would report the mailman to the USPS, as this is extortion. If the mailman has an honest problem with the bite - then he would need to report the dog, not the owner.
If you sister does pay the $500 what is to say that the mailman will not try to extort more monies.

Answer 3

Actually that is extortion. I would assume that since he is taking this course of action he did not fill out an accident report with the USPS and since it was a job related injury he would be covered under workmens comp. Accident forms need to be filed in a timely fashion so after a week has passed the burden of proof is on him. At the very least I would try to get him to ask you for money while you tape him and all the while say you have no idea what he is talking about. (although I would check into legality of taping in your state, here in NY only one person in the conversation needs to be aware of taping while in Cali both need to know) Once you have the evidence you could actually turn the tables and ask for money from him BUT i would advise against that.

Answer 4

That is called blackmail and what your sister should do is go to the cops before this guy and be like look my dog bite this guy, he was doing this, nice dog, they will in the best case take the dog to the Humane Society and do a test on it, if it hasn't bitten people and is not a repeat offender and apparently he isn't that hurt the humane society will most likely release the dog.

When she goes into the cops, she needs to say my dog bite this guy and he said that if i don't give him 500 dollars he is going to report it. He can get in trouble for that. Report it first, then if anything you can say that you did the honorable thing and turned yourself (dog) in and DO NOT PAY HIM. It was a dog bite, get over it, not you, him. :)

You have NO guarantee that he will not take the money and still report it.

Answer 5

I am not a lawyer or legal assistant but I think your sister is on the hook with this. If her dog wasn't contained and bites someone she is the owner and responsible for it. She needs to pay for any hospital expenses for the bite and apologize to the man. Show steps are being taken to avoid the dog biting anyone else and also have proof the dog has had its shots so the man will know he isn't going to get rabies. It might be better to report it herself because it sounds like blackmail the way he is asking for $500.00 or else. He works for the government and I doubt he would be praised for handling it this way.

Answer 6

I'm thinking at this point that the mailman has more to loose having attempted blackmail than your sister does. That's a tough call, though. It is also probably his word against hers....except that why wouldn't he have reported it right away. That would probably give your sister more credibility in the argument. I think your sister has more ground right now. I'd report the mailman. He's a pathetic excuse of a civil servant. And you know if he'll do that to her, he'll do it to others too.......and he'll get away with it with some people because of their fear. The more I think about it, I am conviced that she should report him. The jerk shouldn't get away with trying to blackmail the people he serves.

Answer 7

A mailman is a federal employee he has no right to blackmail your sister. She can call her shelter and tell them what happened and ask them exactly what the procedure should be. she should also call the local post office and tell them about the incident and what your mailman said. If he hasn't reported it within a certain time frame he is going to be trouble himself. Also if it was a bite that required stitches the employee would have medical insurance to cover that so what does he want the money for no matter how you slice it that is blackmail.

Answer 8

I know someone who used to work for the Post Office. She said that she knows someone whose mailman will not deliver the mail if her dog is not locked up. The dog can open the screen door. He is fully in his rights to do this. Your sister may find herself having difficulty getting mail.

Also, my friend said that, if a mailman gets bit too many times, he is fired. Yup, they keep track of the number of times a mailman gets bit, and they blame the mailman.

Answer 9

Report the mailman's request for money to your local Postmaster. This sounds like extortion to me.

Answer 10

Sounds like blackmail to me,I would call an attorney if you don't get one on here to help.Good luck.

If you decide on the $500,have him sign a notarized statement that he will not pursue legal action on the matter.