They say it's a dog's life, but daytime alum Adrienne Frantz (ex-Amber Moore, The Young and the Restless/The Bold and the Beautiful) probably isn't too fond of that sentiment these days. The actress is suing for $5 million after being bitten by a dog while filming a scene for a movie in Ottawa.
The Emmy-winning actress was filming a love scene with Canadian actor John Cor for the film The Perfect Girlfriend back in 2014 when the dog reportedly attacked her.
According to Frantz's lawyer, Robyn Wishart: "She was filming the love scene and was in a passionate embrace with the male lead when the dog ran up the stairs and knocked the male lead off of Ms. Frantz and then bit her in the face."
The Boston Terrier, who had a role as a dog named Bentley in the movie, was allegedly untrained and belonged to the film's makeup artist.
According to Wishart, Frantz did not go to the hospital after she was bitten by Bentley in November of 2014. Instead, she was taken to a doctor, who advised her to get a tetanus shot and also to consider the rabies vaccines because Bentley had recently been bitten in a local dog park and was under investigation for the dangerous viral disease.
The incident reportedly caused extreme stress for Frantz, who was three months pregnant and opted not to get a tetanus shot for fear in could harm her baby. Unfortunately, the actress suffered a miscarriage less than two weeks after the bite and, according to her lawyer, also experienced posttraumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and Graves' disease.
As a result, Franzt is accusing Ontario-based film production company, NB Thrilling Films 4 Inc., of being negligent both in how it handled the reportedly untrained dog and keeping Frantz safe.
In response, Pasquale Santini, a lawyer for the film production company, has pointed out that online photos of Frantz have shown no scarring or imperfections on her face and that she "ought to have known that dogs can be unpredictable and that there was a risk associated with such unpredictability." By agreeing to act in a film with a dog, he argues, she accepted those risks.
Frantz's lawyer has argued that her client "wasn't expecting to be attacked by a dog on set, or to choose between a tetanus shot and her baby. And what we say is that it triggered something called Graves' disease, a thyroid condition that can be caused by a trauma."
Superior Court Justice Charles Hackland recently ruled on a motion in the case brought by the defendants, NB Films. Hackland said that Frantz could turn to a $100,000 insurance policy for any potential cost award made against her if her lawsuit fails.
At this time, the allegations made in the lawsuit have not been discussed in court.
The Perfect Girlfriend was released in 2016 on Lifetime. It follows a businesswoman named Simone Matthews (Frantz) who pursues a romance with a coworker while simultaneously trying to destroy his existing relationship by impersonating his girlfriend online. In the film, Matthews adopts a dog named Bentley in an effort to soften her image for the man she hopes to snag.
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