It was a tragedy that haunts her to this day.

Lisa McKibbin was walking her beloved German Shorthaired Pointer, Sammy last Thanksgiving Day in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, Washington when Sammy stepped on a streetlight metal ground-cover plate and instantly died after being electrocuted.

McKibbin, who purchased the 68-pound dog for $200 in 2004, has now filed $60,000 claim against the city of Seattle.

In the 17-page claim filed Friday, Adam Karp, the animal law attorney representing
McKibbin and her mother, Nancy Bostdorff, said his clients would settle for $30,000 under three conditions: that the City Light electric company post contact-voltage safety tips on its website, take part in an annual contact-voltage safety conference and make contact-voltage scans annual rather than every four years.

Suzanne Hartman, spokeswoman for City Light, said, “Of course, we’ll take a look at the claim and certainly review it. We’ll then do the normal processing to determine the reasonableness.”

In the claim, Karp said that ever since Sammy was purchased in 2004, the daughter and mother had spent over $10,000 on the dog, with the big-ticket items being $5,212 for “doggy day care,” $2,400 on vet bills over the six years of his life and $1,339 for emergency treatment and cremation after the dog was electrocuted.

The claim goes on to say that Sammy “did not have a fair market or replacement value,” but “a unique value.”

“My clients loved Sammy as if he were their child. … The avoidable and wholly unexpected death by electrocution of Sammy caused complex grief and emotional harm to both my clients,” said the claim.

Included in the claim were photos of Sammy at a beach on Vancouver Island and with his owners on vacation in the Canadian Rockies.

The claim included postings by McKibbin on the web about Sammy shortly after his death, including, “I can’t stop sobbing and aching …You were my sweetie, my little boy.”

The claim also said McKibbin “will testify to complex grief, emotional and physical stress, haunting flashbacks replaying the witnessing of Sammy’s death, fear of herself also being killed by lethal voltage and losing him so tragically and unexpectedly.”

Karp said if no settlement is reached within 60 days, the next step is a lawsuit.

By Elaine Furst For Dog Files