Corcoran residents can be enjoying an evening at Burnham Smith Park when they suffer a bite from an unleashed dog. A child may be in the front yard when a dog on the loose bites a little hand.
In each case, careless dog owners can be held legally responsible for the devastating results. But their insurance providers aren’t always quick to provide victims with everything they need to pay their emergency room and physical therapy bills. A Corcoran dog bite lawyer allows victims to focus on healing while fighting back against unhelpful insurance companies.
Free Consultation for Corcoran Dog Bite Victims
Dog bite victims should never be in doubt about who will be accountable for the costs of recovery. California allows victims to hold dog owners and their insurance companies fully accountable for bites and their consequences.
Insurance companies for at-fault dog owners can try to blame victims for the bites they receive or try to minimize the injuries. The Corcoran Dog Bite Lawyer with Maison Law steps in to safeguard victims.
Our lawyers offer a free consultation to all Kings County Victims. It’s a no-risk way to learn about the benefits available to victims and how to hold insurance providers fully accountable. There’s no obligation for your case evaluation, but if you decide to use our services, you won’t owe any money upfront. We don’t get paid unless we win compensation for you.
Who Is Responsible After a Dog Bite in Corcoran?
In many states, a dog has to have shown aggressive tendencies or bitten someone in the past before the dog’s owner can be liable for a bite wound. California law books don’t see it that way.
In our state, the concept of “strict liability” is applied to dog bite cases. It means California dog owners are responsible for bite injury support under most circumstances. This is true even if their dogs have never bitten someone before.
California Civil Code 3342 explains the liability for dog owners. As long the victim was in a public place or was legally on private property, a dog’s owner can be held fully responsible for a bite wound. If the victims somehow provoked the dog, the owner likely wouldn’t be held accountable.
The concept of strict liability only applies to dog bites. But the bite doesn’t have to have broken the skin. It simply must have caused damage.
A dog attack that doesn’t involve a bite wound, such as a dog knocking someone down, can still earn victims compensation, but the burden of proof for those injuries will be higher. Strict liability wouldn’t apply. In other words, you’d have to prove those non-bite injuries were indeed caused by the dog’s actions and the owner’s negligence.
What to Do After a California Dog Bite Accident
Your Corcoran Dog Bite Lawyer will fully investigate what happened to you and look into the dog owner who caused your injury.
Unfortunately, the strongest evidence you’ll have access to will be right there on the scene of your dog bite. If you are left strong enough you should try to gather a few details or have someone with you collect some evidence.
- Call 911 if you are hurt. Go to the hospital if necessary. Call for a Corcoran police officer if you still feel in danger or if the dog may hurt others.
- Take photos. Get a picture of the dog and owner if possible. Take pictures of your bite wound and show any damage to clothing.
- Exchange information with the dog owner. Ask for a name and address and see if you can get proof of a rabies vaccine.
- Talk to witnesses and get their contact information.
- Observe if any surveillance cameras are nearby. Note the addresses of the business or home where the cameras are mounted. Your personal injury lawyer will be securing the footage later.
- Report the bite to animal control.
- Schedule an appointment with your physician. Make sure your wound is healing correctly. Save your medical invoices.
- Keep all damaged clothing. Don’t throw away evidence.
What Should I Demand Compensation for After a Dog Bite Injury?
Once your case is supported by strong evidence and testimony, it’ll be time to file your claim.
Submitted with your dog bite injury claim will be a full list of every hardship you’ve endured since receiving your bite wound. Your personal injury lawyer will include every economic and non-economic damage you’ve suffered.
This includes some factors you may not have considered:
- Hospital and rehabilitation expenses.
- Past and future lost earnings.
- Physical pain.
- Emotional distress, such as anxiety. You might have PTSD symptoms at just the site of a dog after an attack.
- Loss of enjoyment of life. The inability to participate in hobbies, travel, and other family activities due to an injury.
- Loss of consortium. An injury may affect the intimacy you share with family members, especially a spouse.
- Damage or destruction of property.
Unfortunately, a permanent disability or disfigurement can be the consequence of a severe bite wound. You may lose a limb, lose your mobility, lose the use of an eye, or face some other long-term effects.
This only increases the amount of support you should be demanding. Enough to support you and your family over a lifetime. That includes all medical costs and equipment associated with your years of care ahead.
What Should I Expect from an Insurance Company if My Child Is Bitten by a Dog?
You’ll need to hold out for much more in a dog bite settlement if a child is involved. Children are still maturing and a bite can greatly affect their development down the road.
They may enter their teen years or become a young adult when suddenly they require additional surgeries because bones and muscles aren’t growing correctly.
A Corcoran Dog Bite Lawyer would get expert recommendations on the care that could be needed for a child dog bite victim in the future. Then your lawyer would fight to get your child as much in support as possible so they have what they need to grow up healthy and strong.
Contact a Corcoran Dog Bite Lawyer
After you or a loved one has suffered a serious dog bite, you’ll have up to two years from the date of the incident to file a wrongful death claim. If you wait beyond this deadline, your case can be thrown out.
It’s important to reach out to a Corcoran Dog Bite Injury Lawyer as soon as possible to discuss your case, free of charge. Evidence can disappear and dog owners and witnesses can move away and be difficult to locate if you wait too long after an injury.
Contact Attorney Martin Gasparian, the founder of Maison Law, for a free, no-obligation case evaluation. It’s a no-risk way to find out about the benefits available to you and your family that insurance companies won’t be informing you of.
