Maison Law represents U.S. Postal Service mail carriers who have been bitten by dogs while just trying to do their jobs. Our California USPS Driver Dog Bite Lawyers assist victims in getting the support they need to make a full recovery. That support may come from a dog owner, but The U.S. Postal Service could also be liable for helping with recovery costs.
Please contact us after an accident involving a dog bite for a free, no-obligation consultation for you and your family. It’s a no-risk opportunity to find out what your case may be worth and how to hold dog owners and employers responsible.
Do I Need a Lawyer After Suffering a Dog Bite While Delivering Mail?
If your injury is just superficial and can be fixed with some basic first aid, you may not need a dog bite lawyer. But if your injury is serious, you should speak to a skilled California delivery driver dog bite lawyer about what your case is worth.
When your injury involves something like broken bones or a deep puncture wound, hospital bills can quickly pile up. These elevated medical expenses can tempt insurance companies for dog owners or for the USPS to try tactics meant to rob you and your family of compensation, just when you need it most. A lawyer protects you from these tactics and fights to maximize your injury claim so that you don’t have to worry about your financial security in the future.
Dog Bite Dangers for California USPS Mail Carriers
Mail carriers are asked to blindly enter residential yards and porches all along their routes. This duty they perform each day puts them at risk of severe dog bites.
Sadly, most years, California ranks as the number one state for USPS employee dog bite incidents. In 2021, there were 656 recorded incidents of a mail carrier being bitten by a dog in California. For more on dog bite incidents, check out Maison Law’s California USPS Dog Bite Incidents Statistics Page.
Who Is Liable If I Am Bitten By a Dog While Delivering the Mail?
A dog bite incident during your route for the USPS can leave several parties liable for your recovery costs. Your lawyer will be holding all responsible parties accountable for as long as necessary for you to make a full physical, emotional, and financial recovery.
These and other parties could be held accountable for your pain and lost time at work:
- Dog Owners. California is a strict liability dog bite state. That means dogs don’t have to have bitten someone before or have a history of aggression for their owners to be liable for the consequences of a bite. In order to hold pet owners liable, victims can’t have provoked the dog before an attack. Victims also can’t have been trespassing. However, USPS employees would generally have permission to enter a resident’s property to make a delivery. The homeowner would be granting permission to make a delivery by ordering something.
- Property Owner. A property owner renting a home to a dog owner may know about a dangerous dog that’s kept on the property. Past attacks may have occurred. That owner could be liable for injuries if it’s shown that the owner or property management company didn’t act to remove a safety hazard for mail carriers.
- USPS. Under certain circumstances, a delivery driver’s employer could be responsible for providing financially for a dog bite victim. Your California USPS Mail Carrier dog bite lawyer will be looking into your case. If the property where you were bit had been reported to the USPS previously as a dangerous location, the USPS may have to provide you with compensation. The postal service might also be liable if they forced you to go to an address that you had expressed concerns about before.
How Long Do I Have to File a Dog Bite Injury Claim Against the U.S. Postal Service
The U.S. Postal Service is an independent branch of the federal government. Unfortunately, when mail carriers suffer dog bites, they have to jump through some unfair hoops to get help from their employers.
If you are bitten, you have a very short window in which to notify USPS that you’ll be filing an injury claim with them. The deadline for giving this notice can be as short as a month for employees. If you wait beyond the deadline to act, you may have your case rejected. You and your family would be left to pay your medical bills out of pocket.
It’s critical that you speak with a California dog bite lawyer as soon as possible after your dog bite accident. Your lawyer will be keeping an eye on important deadlines for you and also gathering evidence in order to put pressure on the USPS to do right by their mail carriers.
Compensation Available to USPS Driver Dog Bite Victims
Your lawyer would be working to get support from as many at-fault parties as possible. This would give you the best chance to secure funds to pay every hospital bill and surgeon’s fee for as long as necessary. You’d also need to prioritize getting reimbursed for the lost paychecks you and your family suffered while you were down with an injury and unable to finish a mail route.
Your California dog bite attorney would demand support for these hardships and others to maximize a dog bite settlement check:
- All current and future medical expenses
- Support for a permanent disability and scarring and disfigurement
- Support for the pain dog bite victims go through
- Support for the emotional trauma a dog attack can cause
- Lost income while a USPS driver is unable to earn a paycheck
- Travel costs while a USPS dog bite victim can’t drive to medical appointments
Contact a California USPS Dog Bite Lawyer
Maison Law of California provides free case consultations to all dog bite victims. Schedule yours today. It’s a no-risk way to determine every party that should be providing financial support to you and your family and how much you should be demanding.
Our California USPS Mail Carrier Dog Bite Attorneys don’t back down when confronting the federal government and seeking full compensation on behalf of federal employees.
And you don’t need to worry about having the money to hire a skilled dog bite lawyer. Maison Law doesn’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the settlement money you receive.
