Wheelchair-bound Joplin man files lawsuit after dog attack in Main Street McDonald's

In a lawsuit filed Friday in Jasper County Circuit Court a wheelchair-bound Joplin man claims he was attacked by an unrestrained dog during a June 26, 2024 visit to the McDonald's at 2701 S. Main Street.

Listed in the lawsuit as the defendant is Nichols Management, Joplin, the store owner.

According to the petition, Joe Howsmon had placed his order and was headed toward the seating section and found himself in the same area a man who was accompanied by a dog, which was not on a leash, or otherwise restrained and was not a service animal.

At that time and place, the dog then violently and viciously attacked and bit Plaintiff, penetrating the skin and tissue of Plaintiff's right arm resulting in substantial loss of blood and other harms, injuries and damages as are hereinafter more fully described.

 The petition notes that the presence of the dog violated Missouri Department of Health and Human Services regulations as well as Joplin city codes.

The lawsuit alleges premises liability, saying that the failure to use "ordinary care" to keep the dog out of the restaurant and that failure caused Howsmon to "hemorrhage large amounts of blood, to incur in the past and continuing into the future large and substantial sums as and for physician, EMT, hospital, pharmaceutical and other medical care and treatment; to sustain scarring, disfigurement and limitation of motion in his right arm; to have sustained 'garden variety' emotional distress; and fright, fear, pain and suffering."

Two other counts charge the McDonald's restaurant owners with negligence.

Howsmon, who is asking for a judgment and costs, is represented by Scott Vorhees of the Joplin firm of Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci.