Michael McClaren and Ryan Smith successfully argued on appeal that summary judgment should have been granted to Wyoming County in a personal injury action arising out of a dog bite at the County’s animal shelter. The plaintiff was playing with a dog at the animal shelter when it lunged and bit her in the face, causing significant injuries. In general, the law imposes strict liability on a dog owner who has knowledge of the dog’s vicious propensities at the time of the incident in question. Here, the subject dog had been surrendered to the County’s animal shelter approximately two weeks before he bit the plaintiff. There was evidence that the same dog may have injured a young girl months earlier and that a County Health Department employee had visited and observed the dog to determine whether the victim required rabies shots. The trial court found that the alleged knowledge of the Health Department employee regarding the prior incident could be imputed to the County for purposes of establishing knowledge of the dog’s vicious propensities and denied the County’s motion for summary judgment. On appeal, the Appellate Court reversed, and held that the circumstances at issue did not support imputing the alleged knowledge of the Health Department or its employee to the animal shelter, or to the County as a whole. The Fourth Department granted summary judgment to the County and dismissed the complaint in its entirety.