Fresno is a dog-friendly city. Plenty of residents enjoy sharing their homes and their lives with dogs. Unfortunately, some dog owners don’t fulfill their legal obligation to protect other people from their pets. A careless pet owner can leave dogs and humans in a situation that could end in a traumatic dog bite.
Sadly, children are too often the victims of these frightening dog bite cases. These bites leave children facing difficult physical and emotional recoveries. Those wounds might also affect young victims down the road as they grow. Making sure a Fresno dog owner is held fully responsible for every recovery cost now and in the future is key after a child is bitten.
A Free Consultation with a Fresno Child Dog Bite Owner
After a frightening dog bite incident involving a young person, parents should know about every benefit that’s available to support children as they heal. As children recover, they’ll accumulate more and more medical bills and there may be much more specialized and expensive care needed in the years to come. No family should face these costs alone, especially when a careless dog owner is to blame for an attack.
At Maison Law, we know how critical the early years of a child’s life are. After a serious dog bite, a child must get the best medical care available. They must also receive enough in support to cover any future medical treatment necessary to ensure they grow and develop normally.
Contact us for a free, no-obligation evaluation if your child has been the victim of a dog bite. It’s a no-risk way to find out what level of support your child will need now and in the years ahead. We’ll also tell you how to demand this compensation for your child and fight for what’s fair.
Child Dog Bite Dangers in Fresno
Children and dogs both share a few things in common. They both like to run and play, and they are usually very curious. A child’s energy and curiosity can lead them towards a dog, looking to pet or play with it. It’s an especially common hazard when the dog is running loose or placed somewhere a child could reach it.
The dog can feel threatened, protective, and confused and suddenly nip at the child or clamp down with a full set of teeth on a tiny arm, leg, or head.
Safer America reports that around 2.25 million children suffer dog bites each year. Dog attacks on children account for more than half of all dog bite incidents in America.
Dog Bite Hazards for Child Development
Unfortunately, children are much more vulnerable to a dog’s powerful bite as well. The injuries are often much more severe when compared to a bite on an adult.
Children are closer to the ground and will have their most vulnerable areas closer to a dog’s teeth. Fresno emergency rooms doctors, like those at Community Regional, treat crushed bones, face lacerations, internal organ injuries and other major wounds for young dog bite patients.
These injuries are bad enough, but a child’s body is still maturing. A bite wound causing nerve damage and broken bones can affect the development of tissue, bones, and organs as children continue to grow. Complications can arise for victims in their teen and young adult years due to a dog bite from long ago. A disability may even arise when victims don’t receive the care they need at the time of a bite or later when they approach maturity.
For these reasons and more, it’s critical that children receive full support after a serious dog bite. A Fresno Dog Bite Lawyer works closely with parents to make sure they only accept a dog bite settlement that covers every concern.
California Dog Bite Liability After a Child Is Injured
Dogs can be allowed too close to a child in almost any setting. A dog owner may extend a leash too far at a park and leave a pet in reach of a small child. Dog owners may break the law and allow a dog to run free, only to come upon a vulnerable child.
Fortunately for young victims and their families, California holds dog owners fully responsible for dog bites in most cases. California is a “strict liability” state. In some states, a dog’s owner isn’t held financially liable for a dog bite wound unless the dog has an established history of bite tendencies or aggressive behavior.
In California, that’s not the case. Dog owners are generally held accountable for a bite wound recovery, even if the dog has never bitten anyone before. These legal protections for dog bite victims of all ages are contained in California’s Civil Code section 3342.
An injury claim or a lawsuit could be filed against the dog owner’s homeowners insurance or renters insurance to recover fair compensation to pay for the child dog bite victim’s medical care.
What Should I Do If My Child Is Bitten at a Friend’s House?
Children may be at a park or walking to school when they are bitten, but they can also be visiting the home of a friend or a family member when they are put in danger.
Fresno parents may feel conflicted about filing a claim against a dog owner they know or are related to. This shouldn’t concern the parents of a wounded child. They must consider that a child dog bite injury claim generally targets the homeowners insurance of the pet owner, not the pet owner directly.
A claim for damages to benefit the child would be paid by an insurance company. The dog owner may see an increase in homeowners insurance rates, but hopefully, that would be all. Parents can also be reassured that homeowners pay their insurance dues each month for these types of situations.
If a pet owner is a friend or family member, they will want any young victim to get the health care they need. They won’t want the family of the child dog bite victim to face a financial crisis due to the enormous costs of medical care, all while trying to help a child heal.
Compensation Available to Children and Families After a Fresno Dog Bite
Families must file a claim that lists every hardship their children have faced since a frightening dog attack occurred. A Fresno child dog bite injury attorney makes sure the bills a family sees now and could see in the future are listed on an insurance claim.
Families should demand that these and other factors earn support for the child dog bite victim:
- Medical Care now and any required in the future. Funds for regular check-ups for the child victim to make sure the patient is developing and growing without issues. Funds for additional surgeries that may be needed down the road.
- Lifelong support for a child dog bite victim who suffers a physical disability.
- Full support for a child who suffers a permanent disfigurement due to a dog bite wound.
- Travel costs for appointments with doctors and surgeons.
- Additional compensation for physical pain and emotional anguish experienced. This type of compensation can be substantial, especially for a child who might need psychological counseling to get over a fear of dogs and being triggered when seeing other dogs. Disfigurement can also affect a child’s self-esteem and ability to handle social interactions. This very real emotional trauma must factor into a dog bite settlement agreement.
- Wrongful death benefits for the family. In the most tragic cases, a young life is cut short by a severe dog bite wound. The family would be able to seek financial support to make sure they can focus on grieving the loss of a precious loved one and not on how they’ll pay the remaining medical bills left behind.
Contact a Fresno Child Dog Bite Lawyer
Consult with an attorney who understands the emotional trauma that comes along with the physical damage caused by a dog bite to a child. Young victims need full financial and emotional support in order to recover from such a traumatic experience.
When you contact Maison Law for a free consultation, you’ll talk to a real Fresno Dog Bite Lawyer and you’ll get our full attention. It’s a confidential meeting to find out about every benefit available to you and your child after a tragic dog bite incident. If you decide we can help you secure the support your child will need to make a full recovery, you won’t need any upfront money. We don’t get paid unless we win your dog bite claim for your family.
Martin Gasparian, the founder of Maison Law, will work hard to earn the most out of your dog bite claim with as little disruption to your family and your child as possible. We want to handle the frustrations of dealing with unhelpful insurance adjusters while giving you and your family the time to focus on healing.
