Los Angeles is proud to be a dog-friendly city. Unfortunately, for those whose jobs take them from door to door each day, a dog can represent a very unfriendly danger. This occurs when dog owners don’t take proper responsibility for their pets.
Delivery workers and especially mail carriers suffer hundreds of bites across California each year. Sadly, Los Angeles records the most attacks out of any California city. It’s a threat that seems to increase each year for United States Postal Service (USPS) workers.
USPS delivery employees deserve to complete their routes and return home safely each night. But if they are bitten by a dog in a yard, they also deserve full recovery support. In California, that compensation should come from the dog’s owner and in some cases, their employer.
Contact a Los Angeles USPS Dog Bite Lawyer
USPS workers and all other dog bite victims should be able to focus on healing from such traumatic injuries. They should not have to stress over how they’ll pay for their medical bills or make up for lost paychecks at work.
USPS workers can contact Maison Law today for a free, no-obligation case analysis. We will walk through the details of your case so that you can have a clear understanding of all of your legal options. That may include securing compensation from more than one party.
If you decide we can help you get the most for your dog bite injury claim, you won’t need any money now. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you.
California Dog Bite Liability in USPS Attack Cases
California law holds dog owners liable for dog bites. That applies to any delivery person who must enter the dog owner’s property. A USPS worker would have implied permission to approach the front door and deliver mail and packages. This means that a dog owner would be responsible for failing to bring a dog in from the yard at any point when a mail carrier could be present.
California is a “strict liability” state. This form of liability holds owners responsible for their pets when they bite, even if the dog has never bitten anyone before.
It’s the law, but it’s also critical to make sure a dog owner’s home insurance provider or rental insurance provider extends proper support. A Los Angeles Dog Bite Lawyer gathers evidence and witness testimony to hold insurance providers or the dog owners themselves financially responsible for a USPS employee’s injury costs. A skilled lawyer also ensures USPS workers receive full compensation so they aren’t left paying additional medical and physical therapy bills down the road.
USPS Dog Bite Statistics in Los Angeles
More than 5,400 postal employees were attacked by dogs in the United States in 2021. In discouraging news, California led the way in dog bite incidents for USPS workers. A USPS yearly study showed that California had over 650 mail carrier dog bite cases in 2021. That was nearly double the second-leading state, Texas, with 368 incidents.
The study had some grim news for delivery workers in Los Angeles in particular. The city was the worst place in California for USPS dog attacks. The city recorded 44 dog bite cases involving USPS mail carriers in 2021. That placed Los Angeles only behind Cleveland, Houston, and Kansas City for the year.
San Diego was the next most dangerous spot in California for USPS dog bite occurrences with 31 cases for the year.
The U.S. Postal Service sponsors a dog bite awareness week each year to try to get people to be more careful with their pets. They hope the additional awareness will remind people to keep their dogs far away from USPS employees as they do their important work.
In fact, this increased awareness is needed all year round in a place like Los Angeles where dog bites are so frequent. Until that care and caution are shown by every dog owner, dog bites will continue and USPS workers will need support as they go through recovery.
Finding Support for Los Angeles USPS Dog Bite Victims
When a dog bites a victim in California, the owner is responsible for paying for the victim’s recovery. In severe attacks, medical bills and missed time from work can quickly add up.
Workers should have understanding managers at USPS who would not withhold paychecks when victims can’t make it to work because they have a bite wound. But that’s not always the case.
USPS carriers can be struggling to recover from a painful bite while getting behind on medical bills and common monthly bills like rent and car payments. They can’t make it to work, so their paychecks may stop coming in. A dog bite wound injury settlement can rescue a victim from financial turmoil.
Workers’ Comp would hopefully help, but it eventually runs out and it doesn’t compensate victims for the emotional trauma they can experience when involved in a dog attack or a difficult recovery.
Your Los Angeles dog bite attorney would make sure every damage you absorb after a dog bite suffered on the job would be covered. Your lawyer would seek compensation for you for these and other factors:
- Compensation for every medical bill you receive for dog bite treatment and an estimate on the medical care you may need in the years to come.
- Lifelong support for permanent disability suffered that may keep you from ever going back to your USPS job again. You could be unable to earn a living to support yourself and your family.
- Additional Support for a permanent disfigurement resulting from a dog bite wound.
- Compensation for pain and suffering. Support for the pain you’ve been through and the pain you may still experience years down the road. The emotional trauma you may experience after a frightening dog attack would earn substantial support.
- Wrongful Death Benefits. In the most tragic cases, when a USPS worker is killed by a dog or later dies from the injuries, families are awarded financial support. The close relatives of victims may receive money to pay for a funeral and any remaining hospital bills. They could also receive reimbursement for the paychecks victims can no longer provide for their families through work at USPS.
- USPS employees should receive reimbursement for every paycheck, promotion, and benefit they’ve lost while having to be away from their positions.
Contact a USPS Dog Bite Lawyer Serving Los Angeles
If you are a USPS worker and you’ve been bitten by a dog, make sure you aren’t left with thousands of dollars in medical bills. It can easily happen if you don’t have an experienced California attorney protecting you from irresponsible dog owners. You’ll also need safeguarding from insurance agents who will be working to discredit your injury so they can save money. Your attorney would demand fair treatment from the U.S. Postal Service to make sure you get every benefit available as you recover.
After a bite, contact an experienced Los Angeles Dog Bite Lawyer such as Martin Gasparian for a free and confidential case evaluation. Mr. Gasparian takes a hands-on approach to every case and works to help USPS employees get their lives back on track as quickly as possible without the worry of financial burdens.
