Grammy and Academy Award winner Burt Bacharach and his wife were sued Monday by a man who alleges their dog attacked him, badly injuring two fingers on his left hand, while he was pet-sitting for the couple last year.
Joel Gayner’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit against the 88-year-old composer and his wife, Jane, alleges strict liability, premises liability and negligence. He’s seeking unspecified damages.
A representative for the Bacharachs could not be immediately reached for comment.
Gayner, 73, says he agreed to look after the couple’s Portuguese Water Dog — the same breed owned by former President Barack Obama when he was in the White House — while the Bacharachs were in Europe last June. He says he did not receive any compensation.
On the morning of July 1, Gayner says he awoke to the sound of the dog, Alfie, choking and “losing control of its bowels,” and dislodged pieces of a yellow plastic bone that had gotten into the animal’s throat.
A short time later, Gayner approached the dog to comfort it and the canine “snapped at Gayner and mauled his left hand, as well as injuring his forearm,” his suit alleges.
Gayner was taken to a hospital, where doctors reattached the middle finger of his injured hand, according to the suit. His index finger on the same hand was “amputated” by the dog, and doctors had to use a skin graft from his groin to reattach missing portions of the digit, the suit states.
The plaintiff has permanent damage to both fingers and limited use of his left hand, according to his court papers.
The Bacharachs knew Alfie was a danger, but accepted no blame other than to say they were “so sorry,” the suit alleges.
— City News Service