Dog bites can cause serious long-term physical and emotional damage to their victims. In order to ensure full and fair monetary compensation for all available damages, informed victims should be cautious of these costly mistakes.
Delaying Medical Attention
It’s important to make sure to seek medical attention for your injuries right away. Delaying medical care can be detrimental to a victim’s health, as well as increase the risk of infection. This also makes it more complicated when attempting to prove the severity of your dog bite during an insurance claim. Medical bills, paired with police reports, can provide substantial physical documentation to your injury claim and potential lawsuit.
Forgetting to Collect Evidence
Even though delaying immediate medical care is a mistake, leaving the scene of the bite too quickly can seriously impact the strength of a dog bite injury lawsuit as well. Even if the immediate injury doesn’t appear serious, collecting evidence at the scene can prevent you from being liable for any medical expenses. This may include:
- Pet owner’s name and contact information
- Photographs of where the bite happened
- Photographs of the dog
- Photographs of the victim’s injuries
- Witness information
Admitting Fault
Admitting fault under any circumstances can negatively affect your potential case. While collecting your own evidence is important, any implication of negligence such as “it’s okay” or “I shouldn’t have petted them” hurts your legal case as a dog bite victim. These matters can be discussed when going over your case details with a qualified personal injury attorney, along with other important case details.
Settling with Insurance Companies
If the dog owner is insured, dog bite victims may quickly hear back from insurance companies attempting to settle an injury claim immediately. Doing so can prevent your ability to pursue future legal options involving more substantial and fair compensation. Refrain from signed formal documents or statements until you know the full extent or your injuries and case circumstances.
Important Qualifiers for Dog Bite Lawsuits
After suffering a dog bite injury, you may have legal options involving compensation. Dog bite lawsuits have a few necessary qualifiers that are important to outline and understand.
- Proof of liability or negligence causing the bite injury. This involves using collected evidence, police reports, witnesses, and other information to prove that the dog owner can be held accountable for a victim’s injuries. Assigning fault can vary based on defined state specific dog bite liability statutes.
- Have specific recoverable damages outlined. For any type of personal injury case, there are numerous types of damages that are potentially recoverable. These are based on injury extent, medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, inconvenience, or loss of future earnings.