Nelson C. Barry Dog Bites Law Blog on Lawyers.com
The Ins and Outs of a Dog Bite Injury Claim
Friday, September 18, 2009 by Nelson C. Barry
Someone who is going to make a claim after being attacked by a dog should seriously consider getting an experienced attorney on their side. It will not cost any up front money to hire an attorney because the attorney usually gets paid out of the settlement. Another plus is that while dog bite cases are usually straight forward (the owner of the dog is almost always 100% responsible for any injuries caused by his or her dog), there are many issues that might come up that need to be dealt with, such as:
1 What are the behavioral proclivities of the particular breed of dog that bit you?
2 Did the dog involved have a dangerous or vicious nature?
3 What were the dangerous capabilities of the dog at the time of the incident?
4 Was provocation a factor in causing the dog to bite?
5 Did the care and maintenance of the dog influence the attack?
6 Was the incident foreseeable?
7 If multiple dogs are involved, which one did the biting?
8 Did misconduct of the dog owner have an impact on the dog's behavior?
9 Is it advisable to reconstruct how the attack must have happened to refute inaccurate or biased witnesses?
10 Is it advisable to do a behavioral examination of the dog (before it is put down) to determine if it was dangerous by nature.
Being attacked by a dog is almost ALWAYS a scary and dramatic event. Victims are often shaken up so much that they can not think straight. Often their injuries are incredibly bad, even life threatening. It is not reasonable to assume that the victim can be cool, calm and collected at a time when important information needs to be gathered. However at the time of the attack or as soon thereafter as practical, the following needs to be obtained:
1. Name, address and telephone number of the dog owner.
2. Name of the dog, the breed, the gender, the age, whether it was neutered or spayed and confirmation of whether the dog's shots and vaccines are up to date.
3. The name of the dog owner's insurance company.
4. Name, address and telephone number of all witnesses.
Of course prompt medical attention is of paramount importance if the injury is serious and to reduce the risk of infection and other possible complications.
While all this is going on, it can be a very big relief to have an experienced attorney "handling" the legal side of matters to make sure that everything that is supposed to be done is being done. This frees up the vitcim and his or her family to concentrate on recovering both physically and emotionally.
For more information about this or other dog bite related topics, feel free to contact me or visit my San Francisco Personal Injury website at www.nelsonbarry.com.
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