LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The ambassador to the tiny eastern European country of Latvia has been sued for failing to restrain a dog at her home in Louisville.Catherine Bailey and her husband, Irv, are accused in the suit of violating a settlement in which they agreed to remove their pit bull from their home on Longview Avenue.
The suit was filed in Jefferson Circuit Court by Eric J. Haner, a lawyer who contends the dog has been seen on two occasions at the Baileys' home since Jan. 30 - the date they were supposed to get rid of the dog. Haner is asking that the dog be euthanized.
Bailey could not be reached at the U.S. Embassy in Riga, Latvia. She was appointed ambassador by President Bush and sworn in Jan. 13.
But an attorney for the couple called the suit a "case of mistaken identity." Christina Norris said the dog identified in the suit is actually an English bulldog owned by a housekeeper.
"It is not the dog in question," Norris said.
Haner claims that the pit bull attacked his pug, Bobbie, and mauled a schnauzer owned by George Stinson, a friend of Haner's who also lives on the street.
Haner said in the suit that the Baileys violated a local dangerous dog ordinance. Haner and the Baileys signed an agreement Jan. 28 in which he agreed not to sue if they agreed to permanently relinquish "care, custody and control" of the dog by midnight two days later.
The couple agreed to have the dog destroyed if it was kept there after that date.