A dog is a man’s best friend but when something goes wrong that leads to a dog bite it can lead to a lot of pain and commotion for those involved. Our loved pets can be seen in a new light and it’s not always a positive one. In the event that you sustain a dog bite and choose to pursue legal action here are some things that your attorney will need to know in order to help you to the best of their ability according to a dog bite lawyer with our friends at the Brandy Austin Law Firm.
The information that attorneys need helps with their ability to help you get your compensation. Some important information that will help them includes a photo of your injury. If you have any x-rays needed from something such as a broken bone those documents would also help. Some other information they might need regards the dog’s history and behavior in the past. If that dog has been violent in the past it can help to prove that these injuries you sustained have been inflicted on multiple people and show that the dog is a threat. In the event that the dog you are bit by has never acted violently before, it may be more difficult to get compensation, but that’s what your attorney is there for; to help you. Information regarding the dog’s past can be found from neighbors and the dog owner themself about how the dog acts. You and your attorney may even speak to the veterinarian about this dog’s past behavior and the nature of that dog during vet visits. Photos and surveillance is helpful in these situations, as spoken about before. Photographs of your injury will help your case as well as photos of the dog and possibly any video surveillance you have of the incident. It is very common to see driveway or doorbell cameras in neighborhoods and one of these cameras may have caught the incident on tape.
One thing that’s very important in a dog bite case is to prove that the owner was negligent and that is what caused your injury. Some ways you and your attorney can prove that the dog owner is negligent is by proving four things: The party owned or cared for the dog in some capacity, the party owed you a duty of care to act reasonably in preventing the dog from injuring you or others, the party breached that duty of care, and finally, the breach caused injury to you. These four elements all work together in proving the owner or caretaker of the dog liable. If you are bitten by a dog you can sue the person taking care of the dog at that moment regardless of if they are the official owner or not. If the person accompanying the dog is a dog sitter or friend of the owner they can still be at fault if they did not act to prevent the injury. For example, if the owner or caretaker did not have their dog on a leash and that caused the dog to chase you or if the owner or caretaker was on their phone while walking causing them to not pay attention to how their dog was acting, leading to you getting bit, then they can be held liable for your injuries and possible trauma.
When it comes to compensation, there are a few things you can be compensated for. You can of course be compensated for your wound from the dog bite, but in some dog bite incidents you may sustain more injuries than just the bite wound. If you are forced to flee the dog coming to bite you and trip or fall, causing you to break your ankle, that would be covered as well. In the event that this occurs and you are unable to work for a sustained period of time then you can also be compensated for your wages lost due to being unable to work.
All this information is helpful to your attorney in proving that you deserve compensation for your physical and emotional damage that could have been prevented if the caretaker of the dog had properly restrained their dog, or if something had been done to keep the dog from acting violently. If you are facing a situation like this, contact a lawyer near you for help.