By ROBERT LINNEHAN
A little less than two weeks after Dr. Robert Taffet’s dog Duke was put down for an April 19 attack on a juvenile, the Haddonfield resident finds himself facing more legal troubles for an attack that took place in Salem County in 2009.
Cindi and Dennis McVeigh, parents of Claire McVeigh, have levied a lawsuit for unspecified damages against Taffet for Duke’s role in an attack on Claire in Alloways Township in November of 2009.
The complaint alleges that Claire was attacked by Duke while she and her mother were visiting the Taffets’ goat farm in Salem County. While on the farm, the complaint alleges that the dogs were barking at the McVeighs and Taffet as they were escorted through the property, but Taffet assured them that the dogs thought he was the “alpha dog” and “master of the dogs” and that there was nothing to worry about.
The McVeighs’ attorney, Randy C. Greene, said Claire was escorted into a barn to see a puppy. Shorty afterward, Greene said that Cindi heard a scream and then saw that he daughter was being carried out of the barn, crying uncontrollably.
According to the complaint, Duke had bitten Claire’s ear and severed the organ from her head.
Greene said that the McVeighs were never made aware of the fact that Taffet’s Rhodesian Ridgebacks had been involved in any previous attacks.
The lawsuit will be seeking an unspecified amount of damages for medical expenses and pain and suffering for the McVeigh’s, Greene said.
“In Easter we learned of the incident on April 19 and it begged of the question, how was Duke not muzzled? This is exactly what my clients were afraid of,” Greene said. “When they went to visit the Taffets the day Claire was harmed, they did not know about all these other attacks that these Rhodesian Ridgebacks had done in Haddonfield.”
The lawsuit is also seeking to bar Taffet from owning anymore Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Greene said. It is seeking to have his current Ridgebacks placed in an animal orphanage, he said, not to be destroyed.
It’s not about bad dogs, Greene said, but about irresponsible dog owners.
“We know that not every dog attacks, but its been the same breed involved. It’s one of these goals, that they did not want this to happen to anyone else,” Greene said. “They do not want this to happen again. They believe that the only way to do this is that Dr. Taffet shouldn’t have any Ridgebacks.”
The Haddonfield Sun has reached out to the Taffets for comment.
