Victims bitten by dogs at a family member’s or friend’s home can seek help with their recovery costs from the dog owner’s insurance coverage.
Victims may feel bad about filing a claim against someone they know, but settlement checks are written by insurance companies. Dog bite claims usually don’t target the dog’s owner directly.
To find out how to hold an insurance provider fully liable for a debilitating dog bite injury, contact Maison Law Accident & Injury Lawyers of Bakersfield. It’s an easy, no-obligation way to go over what you’ll need to demand from an insurer.
Do I Need a Lawyer After Getting Bitten by a Dog?
If your injuries are serious, a Bakersfield dog bite lawyer can often earn you much more in compensation than you could by filing your claim yourself.
A serious injury may include a deep bite wound, an infected wound, something that will leave a permanent scar, or a broken bone. These injuries and others raise the cost of medical care and send insurance adjusters into a frenzy trying to find ways to deny responsibility.
Your lawyer fully investigates what happened and secures all evidence for you. This helps when insurers try to blame you for what occurred. Medical evidence is also key when insurers try to cast doubt on how serious your injuries are. Your lawyer makes sure you have what you need now and in the future in order to have the best chance of a full recovery.
Who Is Responsible for a Dog Bite on a Family Member’s Property?
In California, dog owners usually face complete blame for the consequences of a dog bite. Dog owners are under “strict liability” for bites, meaning victims generally don’t have to prove negligence on the owner’s part. Who
Victims simply have to show that the person owned the dog and that a bite occurred in order to win support. The history of the dog also doesn’t matter. In some states, owners are responsible for injuries if it’s the first time the pet has bitten someone. But in California, dog owners are responsible for every bite a dog may inflict.
There are a couple of circumstances that may help the dog owner avoid liability, even under strict liability.
- The victim can’t have been trespassing on private property. This usually wouldn’t apply in the case of a visit to a relative’s house. The victim would almost always be considered to have been invited into a home or onto a family member’s property.
- The victim can’t have provoked the dog. Victims usually wouldn’t have been taunting the dog or threatening the dog’s owner/family member in front of the dog. Young children also wouldn’t usually be held liable for their careless actions around a dog, such as cornering a dog and trying to pet a frightened dog. Children are curious and full of energy, and don’t always have the good judgment to give a dog space.
- The case must involve a real bite for strict liability to apply. Although a bite that doesn’t break the skin can still meet the legal standards for strict liability.
Victims who aren’t bitten but are still injured by a dog’s actions can file injury claims. However, strict liability wouldn’t be available to make assigning blame easier.
Victims would have to prove negligence in a case where a dog knocked someone down to suffer an injury. Victims might have to show that the dog owner’s carelessness allowed a dog to get close. They would also have to prove that a dog’s actions cause their fall.
A skilled attorney can sit down with victims and discuss the best way to prove their cases and earn the most possible for what they’ve been through and may still endure through recovery.
Should I File a Claim Against Loved Ones If I’m Bitten By Their Dogs?
You may find filing an insurance claim against a friend or family member distasteful, and that’s understandable. But when you or your child has major wounds or broken bones, your recoveries are the priority.
You also shouldn’t think of an insurance claim as “going after” your loved ones. Your claim is filed against the relative’s homeowners’ insurance in most cases. It doesn’t target parents, grandparents, or aunts and uncles directly. The insurer would provide a settlement check to help you in the aftermath of a dog bite.
Your family member will also likely want you or your child to be able to afford the best care available. It’s a big reason that homeowners and renters pay for insurance. It helps protect them and victims after an accident.
What to Do If Your Child Suffers a Dog Bite in Kern County
Support Available to Dog Bite Victims
Getting all the support possible in a dog bite accident claim is critical because the victim’s hardships don’t always end after a quick trip to the ER at Adventist Health Bakersfield.
Victims can suffer infections that make healing from deep puncture wounds take longer. Medical News Today reports that in some cases, doctors must go in to remove infected or dead tissue.
Broken finger bones, or leg bones, can also seem to heal, only to have complications months or years later. Surgery could be necessary to get bones that didn’t heal in alignment back on track.
These factors must be taken into account when filing a claim and including a list of hardships the insurer will be held responsible for.
Your attorney will demand compensation for these and other damages:
- Coverage for all doctor and surgeon care for as long as it takes for you to heal.
- Money for physical therapy for as long as necessary to strengthen an injured body part, like a leg or arm.
- Additional support for child victims who may have issues as they grow when an old dog bite injury flares up and affects the body’s maturation process.
- The cost of long-term care when you suffer a permanent physical disability.
- The cost of restorative surgeries if you suffer a permanent disfigurement.
- Travel costs when visiting doctors and specialists.
- Support for the income and benefits that you lose while injured and unable to work.
- Support for pain and suffering you endure.
- Support for the emotional trauma you go through in a long recovery. This also encompasses the PTSD victims may be left with after a frightening bite incident.
Contact a Lawyer Serving Bakersfield Dog Bite Victims
If you or a loved one has suffered a serious injury after a dog bite at someone’s home, discuss your case with a skilled Bakersfield Dog Bite Accident Attorney as soon as possible. This free case consultation comes at no obligation to you or your family.
Dog bite victims should never be left to face the costs of recovery alone, and family members will usually have insurance coverage that can help. Reach out to Maison Law Accident & Injury Lawyers of Bakersfield to make sure you are clear on the rights you have as a victim and the benefits that are available to you and your family.
If you do require our help to earn more, you won’t need any upfront money to hire us. We don’t charge you anything unless we win your case for you. What’s more, after a successful case, the attorney’s fee isn’t your responsibility. It is paid out of the settlement that an insurance company is forced to provide to you.