Civil Litigation Elder v. Bark & Fetch Ruth Elder, an 85-year-old widow who is very unsteady as she walks and has been advised by her doctor to use a cane or walker when she exercises, lives at 16 Johnson St. in Middletown, CT 06457. She takes one or more walks a day along the public sidewalk, running past her home and that of her neighbor at 14 Johnson St., John Bark. Bark allows his friend, Jeffrey Fetch, to keep Rusty, a five-year-old, 80-pound Golden Retriever, at his home until Fetch moves from his apartment building at 42 Morgan Street in Middletown, CT 06457, which does not allow tenants to have dogs. Fetch comes to Bark's house daily to feed and walk Rusty, and he regularly ties his dog outside Bark's home to a metal corkscrew embedded in his front yard using a long rope that does not allow the dog to reach the sidewalk in front of the yard. Rusty had never injured any person when, on December 25, 2021, at 5 pm, Elder, who had taken several walks past Bark's house without a cane or walker that day, shouting "Merry Christmas, Doggy" each time she passed, causing Rusty to bark, was again out for a stroll without a cane or walker and again shouted at Rusty causing him to bark. At the same time, Jeffrey Fetch, visiting Bark, threw a ball in the direction of Elder on the sidewalk, and Rusty began to run in the direction of Elder and the ball, pulling the corkscrew from the ground. As the dog neared Elder, she became frightened, lost her balance