Noooo. I even said that counselor. Certainly not the part where he cracked his head at least. Anyway.... speaking of you being a lawyer and people falling backwards lol.... it must have been karma but I have a hypothetical for you. Now I knoooow... anyone can sue for anything.... but check this out. So yesterday I had to take my pick-up out for a drive, pony-ing it up to someone who was putting a buch of junk in storage. (why people don't throw sh*t out I'll never understand but whatever). So I bring my beloved Muttley along; its a given... when the truck rolls, she's thinks she's going. How can I say no right? So I'm stopped at a redlight turning left, waiting for the arrow and I'm about 6 cars back. There's a concrete divider right next to me on my left side there. Like a 3 or 4 foot wide sidewalk, but not a sidewalk, just whatever. A divider. Of course someone is working it with their sign saying "homeless/god bless" collecting dollar bills. Well he comes up from behind me and walks right to my window. Muttley went nuts. This cat... it was funny, he jumped back and fell off the other side of that curb. He didn't fall down and all was well. I laughed and slipped him a single after Muttley chilled. No biggie. But I started thinking about that. What if a car had been coming the other way and that dude got hit. Could he go after my insurance company? Just in theory? And would he win?
My short answer is that someone who comes up to knock on your car window and is scared by your dog and falls backwards and gets it by a car has a better chance of suing the car that hit him, not you. You have no fault at all. The car that hit him, now that guy would get sued simply because he hit him. The victim lawyer just needs to show the driver was going to fast, was not paying attention, or wahtever to show that although the guy suddenly fell, the driver did not take necessary steps to avoid hitting him. It would still be a difficult case because the victim was in the median of the road which is illegal and fell over into oncoming traffic in a busy road. So the victim in this case could not sue you for anything but most likely would go after the driver and small chance the driver's insurance tries to settle quickly for a small amount (i.e. $2,000) to avoid any liability. OR the driver's insurance company will get their big lawyer to shoot down the victim and protray it as an accident that was unaviodable when someone unexpectedly falls over a median into oncoming traffic.
Good man Ocho. I'll tell Muttley she's in the clear. It was just a fun hypothetical anyway... figured I'd challenge those brain-cells of yours. Keep you on the cutting edge. How's our girl today?