I just found and read this thread. Didn't see the video; glad for that because I could probably not unsee it. As a child when my dog got out of the fence, I was so scared until I found him and got him safe.
I agree with
@WSCam and many prior posters on several points. Specifically, no matter what the laws are in the area regarding fencing dogs, the free roaming dog represented a hazard in this case and the owner could be sued for damage to the vehicle and for the driver's distress. Whatever we may think of the driver's reaction, this event is 100% the dog owner's responsibility.
That said, no company likes to have viral videos of their truck killing a dog, so I'm certain this would be handled by a settlement from Fedex under a non-disclosure / gag order. I've been involved in a couple cases where a company acted badly and after I showed them how bad their behavior was, with full documentation, they agreed to compensate me, always with a non disclosure attached.
The only leverage the dog owners have is the video not going viral; so good job taking it down. In future, my recommendation to people is not to make such videos publicly accessible at all, because the very fact that it was "out there" and thus may have been copied and get out again (outside of the owner's control) may limit Fedex's insurers' ability to make a good settlement. Keeping video of potential claim events private is the only leverage.
I'm no lawyer, but under no circumstances should one ever make a blackmail/extortion attempt (pay me or this goes viral). Just mentioning the existence of the video as documentation of the claim is plenty to get the point across.
In 2018 I was asking for compensation from a medical practice over a billing dispute; the practice had egregiously been running multiple sets of books (insurance versus self pay) and in the process double billed me and also mis-filed with the insurer in about 20 claims; I was out about $1500 and the practice claimed I owed them $1900. I had detailed spreadsheets showing exactly what was going on and that they had billed insurance for stuff I self-paid. After they balked several times, after I did all the leg work of documenting the problems, I told them that my next call was going to be to the insurer's fraud line, then I gave them the actual number to the fraud line that I was preparing to call, and the name of a contact in the department. "Since we can't agree on this, perhaps it's beyond my ability to analyze. I should bring in some experts from [XXX insurance company] to look at my problem in the context of your overall practice." Not blackmail at all, just a factual and reasonable next step. All of a sudden the problem went away. WITH AN NDA IN PLACE (two-sided, for my protection).
So, I recommend that as part of any settlement, the dog owner require that Fedex indemnify him from any claims/damages to Fedex, their employees, or contractors.
Good luck with this. I do grieve for the poor dog.
