A woman who claims her dog died while under the care of a former Playboy Playmate working for an online pet-sitting company sued the website Monday, alleging it fails to thoroughly investigate its employees.
Representatives for Rover.com and the model/actress, Angelica Bridges, could not be reached for immediate comment on the lawsuit.
“The contrast between what Rover says and what Rover does could not be more stark,” said attorney Rob Tauler, who represents the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe. “Rover claims that all sitters are approved by specialists and that it accepts less than 20 percent of potential sitters, but this is not true. In reality there is no system in place to vet sitters, and some sitters are repeat offenders who have already irresponsibly caused the death of pets in their care.”
The suit’s allegations include negligence, intentional misrepresentation and breach of contract. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
The 47-year-old Bridges, a former “Baywatch” actress, is the lead singer of the pop group Strawberry Blonde and was featured on the cover of the November 2001 Playboy. In 2016, she competed on the first season of Fox’s television game show “Kicking & Screaming.”
The lawsuit contends that Rover.com did not scrutinize Bridges — who the plaintiff hired in April 2017 to care for Snoopy, a 6-pound Papillion she had adopted five months earlier. Snoopy was not being supervised outside when the dog slipped under a fence and was fatally struck by a car, the suit states.
Rover also refused to provide compensation even though it claims in its marketing that the company provides insurance for injuries to pets in the sitter’s care, custody or control, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit also alleges glitches existed in the Rover software.
About two weeks after Snoopy died, Bridges was approved as a sitter for another Rover.com customer, the suit states.
–City News Service
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