The High Court has awarded a pizza delivery man €7,000 in personal injuries after he was bitten by a dog while delivering advertising leaflets through a letterbox.

 Arpit Khurana (23) had appealed the claim to the High Court after he was bitten by an Alsatian-type dog when he put his hand through the letterbox in October 2009. Mr.Khurana was treated in hospital for the injury to his finger as a result of the bite and received a tetanus shot.

Mr. Khurana had his claim dismissed by Mr Justice Matthew Deery at the Circuit Court in February 2012 after the judge deemed that the claimant had no legal right to put his hand through the letterbox. Mr. Khurana appealed hios claim to the High Court where Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley deemed that Vincent and Bernie Fitzgerald of Portobello, Dublin who were the owners of the dog, were liable as the back of the letterbox did not extend the full depth of the aperture. The judge said ‘It seems to me entirely possible the dog in fact got its nose under the flap and managed to bite his hand.”

Mr.Khurana was awarded €7,000 in compensation for the dog bite injury as well as costs for the two court cases.