Uber Eats drivers should expect support from a dog owner after a dog bite incident during a delivery. Victims should get help with paying emergency room bills and with replacing the income they lose while they can’t work. Victims might also be able to receive Worker’s Comp benefits and perhaps sue Uber Eats under certain circumstances.
Who Is Liable If I’m Bitten While Delivering for Uber Eats?
Generally, the dog owner is held liable for a bite that occurs in the state of California. Under the legal concept of “strict liability,” Bakersfield dog owners are responsible when their dogs bite unless the victim was trespassing at the time or provoked the dog. The dog owner would be found liable, regardless of the dog’s past.
As long as the person is responsible for the dog and a bite occurred, the fault would be easy to assign in most circumstances. This fault would be even more unavoidable since someone who orders from Uber Eats should expect the delivery person to approach their front door. It’s plenty of advance notice for dog owners to take action to secure a pet before an Uber Eats employee arrives and ends up in harm’s way.
It means that an Uber Eats delivery driver who gets bitten would be empowered to file a claim against the owner.
But other parties might have to offer support to injured workers:
The Dog Owner – Under strict liability, the driver could seek compensation without having to show negligence on the part of the owner. If a dog is allowed near someone, allowing bites, the dog owner would almost automatically be liable under the law. Victims could seek help with their emergency room costs and physical therapy costs for as long as therapy is needed. This support would usually come from the dog owner’s homeowners insurance or renters insurance. In some cases, a dog owner without insurance would have to be targeted directly.
Landlord or Property Management Company – A delivery to an apartment or some other rental property where a dog bite occurs might leave the property owners liable. This might happen if a dog owner has been reported as a negligent dog owner in the past, or if a dog has bitten someone before in the neighborhood. If the landlord did nothing to keep people safe, such as evicting the dog owner, the owners may be liable for the delivery driver’s injuries.
Workers’ Compensation – In California, some delivery drivers are granted rights to Workers’ Comp support. This is true even when a corporation like Uber considers its employees contract workers. This can be a great benefit, but not every injured worker gets the same level of support. The California Division of Workers’ Compensation’s (DWC) administrators can make it difficult for injured victims to get full support. A Bakersfield Workers’ Compensation Attorney can represent dog bite victims and fight to secure more support for as long as the victim is out of work.
Uber Eats — Uber considers its delivery drivers as contract workers, and that can make it easier for the transportation giant to ignore its employees when they are injured. However, if Uber Eats can be shown to have been especially reckless with the safety of its workers, it might be found responsible. This might occur if an address or customer has been complained about before, and yet Uber Eats continues to send workers into an unsafe situation. The victim may have been the one to report the dog risk, and then been expected to return. Maison Law would also be ready to take action if Uber Eats tried to fire a worker or punish the worker for getting hurt.
A Bakersfield dog bite lawyer would be collecting evidence to force any negligent party to accept blame. This might include more than one party, making it possible for the victim to receive benefits and support from multiple insurance companies.
Injury Risks for Uber Eats Drivers After a Dog Bite
Getting support and the right level of support from those at fault is critical. This is especially true for someone who relies on their mobility to make a living. Uber Eats delivery folks can’t drive to restaurants while they have casts on their hands or fingers. They can’t push a gas pedal or walk up to a front door with broken bones in their ankles.
Dog bites can leave these types of injuries behind and more, and keep employees away from deliveries for weeks or months. In some cases, the effects of a dog bite are lifelong.
These are just a few of the injuries that Emergency Room doctors at Adventist Health Bakersfield treat after dog bites:
- Punctures Wounds: Dog teeth can penetrate the skin and damage muscle all the way down to the bone. The canine teeth are the longest teeth towards the front of the dog’s mouth and can go deep. The incisors are the smaller teeth along the front of the mouth. They can break the skin and cause bleeding after a nip from a dog. Remember that a nip is still considered a bite.
- Tissue Damage: Tendons, ligaments, and muscles are always at risk when a dog clamps down. Damaged blood vessels.
- Nerve Injury: Numbness is a common symptom after nerve damage in a dog bite. This loss of feeling may be long-term. A nerve injury could also cause pain and something that feels like a continual electric shock. Delivery workers may find they struggle to grasp bags of food and drinks for some time.
- Crushing Injuries: The teeth may not puncture down to the bone, but the force of the dog’s jaw clamped down on an appendage can be enough to crush bones. Hands, ankles, and even throats can end up crushed.
- Infections: Dog teeth carry bacteria that can cause wounds to become infected. Rabies and tetanus are examples of harmful bacteria carried in a pet’s mouth. Patients may experience tremors, fatigue, and breathing difficulties. Wounds take longer to heal and may leave bigger scars behind.
- Permanent Disfigurements: This can be a permanent physical reminder of a dog bite wound. A scar or red area might never go away. A disfigurement can include the deformity of a limb or the loss of a limb due to amputation. Such a traumatic wound can affect victims physically and emotionally.
What If I Am Injured in a Delivery Dog Bite Accident that Doesn’t Involve a Bite?
If a delivery driver is knocked down and injured, and no bite is involved, the victim could still seek injury assistance from the dog owner or anyone else.
The only difference is that strict liability and the ease of proving the dog owner is liable couldn’t be counted on. This only applies to cases involving bites.
But an Uber Eats employee who suffers brain trauma or a bone fracture after being knocked off a porch by an excited dog could demand support through a more traditional personal injury claim.
This claim would need to be backed up with more evidence. For example, victims, or their lawyers, would need to show the dog’s actions caused the fall, and that the owner’s negligence gave the dog access to the victim.
A Maison Law attorney can help you build a strong case and then secure full recovery compensation from a dog owner or anyone else who was liable.
Contact a Bakersfield Uber Eats Dog Bite Lawyer Today
We offer a free and confidential case review to all Uber Eats employees in Kern County who have suffered a dog bite while on a delivery. If your injuries are serious, please contact us today to schedule an appointment. It’s a no-risk way to determine what your case is worth and how to hold a dog owner and others fully liable.
And if you do need Maison Law’s help to secure more in support, remember that you don’t need to worry about having the money to hire a lawyer. We don’t get paid unless we win your dog bite case for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement check that an insurance company must provide.
