Accidents

Accidents — will update later

Injuries resulting from a dog bite can be extremely painful, leaving the victim not only traumatized, but also scarred for life. The scars can be literal or figurative. The scars are literal in the sense that when the victim is bitten, he will have cuts and bruises and these may not heal perfectly. The scars can also be mental. A lot of times, the victim of a dog bite will never be able to touch another dog due to a phobia that the dog will bite him again. Quick medical care is essential in these cases because waiting can make treatment more difficult for the medical staff. Not only will you need treatment for possible rabies and other life threatening conditions, you will most likely need the help of a plastic surgeon to correct any scarring or disfigurements that occur due to the dog bite. As far as the legal aspects of this, you will need to contact a personal injury attorney specializing in dog bite cases to see what can be done.

Personal injury lawyers who practice in the field of dog bites, or dog bite lawyers, are attorneys who have studied the relevant law in their state and are familiar with how to handle dog bite cases. First, the attorneys will most likely interview you to find out what happened. Then, they will try to ascertain the identity of the dog owner to find out what kind of settlement (if any) the dog owner is willing to negotiate with the lawyers.

Sometimes, the dog owners are cooperative and they will be reasonable and provide cash or their insurance information so you can get the claim settled and move on with your life. However, this is not always the case. Unfortunately, many times, the owners will be uncooperative and you will have to go to your backup plan. In such cases, a lawyer will need to be hired to investigate the case and take the proper steps to make sure that your interests are protected and that you are well-represented in your case.

In Los Angeles and the rest of California, a dog bite subjects the owner to strict liability. If a dog bites someone anywhere in public (thus the victim was not a trespasser), the owner is automatically liable. Please note that there must be a bite to the victim. If the animal attacks the victim and the victim falls down but there was no bite, then these rules do not apply. Of course, there are other rules that could expose the owner to liability. That is the way it works in all of Los Angeles. For example, you could potentially file a lawsuit against the owner under a negligence theory, if they did not keep adequate control of the dog. According to Find Law, this law applies to the owner only. In other words, if someone is just a dog walker, they are not automatically liable under this rule. Of course, there are other ways to hold them liable. For example, let us say the dog walker was negligent and did not hold the leash properly or did not warn the victim that this dog is vicious. In these cases, both the dog owner and dog walk would be liable. In all cases, it is highly recommended that you contact dog bite attorneys to review your case. Usually, the dog bite attorneys do not charge any fees for consultations. They provide free consultations and most of the time, there are no upfront costs to the plaintiff. The plaintiff pays only if the attorney wins the case. This kind of policy is good for several reasons. It is good because a poor victim who has no money to afford an attorney can still get representation, and the attorney will not take cases that have no chance in court because he does not want to waste his time with such cases. He will take cases that have a high chance of winning.