ST. LOUIS – A minor is seeking damages from a dog owner after a Labrador mix bit her cheek.
Navaeh Alewel, through her custodial parent and natural mother Ashley Alewel, filed a complaint on April 3 in the St. Louis 22nd Judicial Circuit Court against James Heinkel alleging strict liability and negligence.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that on Nov. 21, 2017, she was severely injured when she was attacked and bitten by a dog owned by defendant. The suit states Alewel was riding her bike in the parking lot of the Southwest Baptist Church in St. Louis where a friend of the defendant's let the defendant's dogs off of their leashes.
The suit states the bite was so severe that the plaintiff needed emergency plastic surgery.
The plaintiff holds Heinkel responsible because the defendant allegedly failed to provide adequate warning of his dog's dangerous propensities and failed to maintain proper rabies and other vaccinations.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment in her favor of more than $25,000, costs expended for this suit and all other relief that are just and proper. She is represented by Jim D. Ryan and John J. Hopkins of Gori Julian & Associates PC in Alton.
St. Louis 22nd Judicial Circuit Court case number 1822-CC00653