Woman suing property manager for letting out dog, who was hit by car and died

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Back in August, Beverly Hills resident Shannon Sokolow was at the gym when she received a call from the property manager and realtor for her apartment.

"She asked if she could show my apartment to someone if I was home. I said I'm not home. My dog's there. I can be there tomorrow at 8 or the next day at 3. She said, 'Oh no. I'll be so fast. I'm going to go in quickly,'" she said.

Sokolow said she again said, "No, my dog's there. You can't go in, pick another day," but her landlord said, "no no no" and hung up.

Then according to Sokolow, she got a phone notification from her "doggy camera."

"She walks in and the dog, Roxy, is barking and going crazy."

Sokolow says it's not normal for her dog Roxy to run out of the apartment, but that she must have been terrified when a stranger entered.

According to Sokolow, Roxy then ran out of the apartment building, and minutes later, was hit by a car at Olympic and Rexford -- and died. Sokolow filed a lawsuit Thursday against her property manager Shiva Mehrdad, Mehrdad's employer, and the landlord seeking damages for Roxy's death who Sokolow had for three years.

"We're seeking to hold all the defendants accountable for breaching the lease agreement. There's clear terms. There's city code that they breached and human decency that seems to be violated here," said Sokolow's attorney Camron Dowlatshahi.

"Roxy was my entire world. I work from home. I had her doing COVID. I spent 99 percent of my time... She slept on my chest. She came to the beach. I traveled with her on vacation," said Sokolow. "She killed my child. Whoever has a dog understands, she meant literally the world to me."

Sokolow says Roxy's death has changed her life forever, forcing her to see a therapist three times a week and take medication to deal with the incident.

Eyewitness News reached out to all the parties named in the lawsuit including her former property manager, but did not hear back.