We don’t know the exact number of dog attacks in California. However, we do know that dog attacks account for more than 63,000 emergency room visits each year. About 98% of these emergency room visits are related to dog bites.

Despite this large number of dog bites, the Insurance Information Institute reports that there are only about 2400 dog bite claims in California each year. This is possibly because the most common victims of dog bites are the dog owner and their families. But it might be that many people don’t know that dog owners are strictly liable when a dog attacks and causes injuries. Nor do they know that the average claim payment for a dog bite injury in California exceeds $86,000!

If you were bitten by someone else’s dog, a dog bite lawyer at Fisher & Talwar can help you get compensation for your injuries. To learn how we can help, please contact us today for a free initial consultation. 

What to Do After a Dog Bite

After a dog bite, you need to take appropriate steps to protect your right to get compensation for your injuries. Here’s what you need to do:

Take a Picture of the Dog

If you think of it and can do so safely after the attack, taking a picture of the dog will help you track down their owner and identify whether the dog has diseases of concern. 

Get Medical Care

For some dog bites, you can start with home care. Wash the wound first with soap and water, then apply a topical antibiotic. Cover the bite with a clean bandage. 

However, you should see a doctor for dog bites when:

  • You don’t know the dog’s owner
  • The wound is a deep puncture
  • The skin is badly torn or crushed
  • The wound bleeds severely
  • You can’t tell how bad the wound is
  • You see signs of infection like increased pain, swelling, skin color changes, localized heat, or discharge from the wound
  • The bite affects the function of a limb or digit
  • The person bitten isn’t current on their tetanus shots

In any situation where you have doubts about the wound, it’s best to see a doctor.This will head off potential problems and document the injuries. 

Report the Bite

If your dog bite required medical care, make sure you report it to local authorities, including animal control. If you know the name and address of the dog owner, include it in your report. If you don’t, give the dog’s description and the location where the attack occurred. 

Notify the Owner

If you know the dog’s owner or can locate them because animal control picked up the dog, let them know about your bite. If you need to find the owner, try using locally focused social media like Nextdoor to see if any of your neighbors know the dog.

At this point, the owner might offer to compensate you for your injuries, but it’s best not to accept the offer. Often, dog owners will make the offer now but refuse it later once they realize how much the injury might cost. Even if they don’t directly refuse, they might delay perpetually, and making even an informal agreement with the owner can make it harder to get compensation later. In addition, it can be hard to factor in compensation for ongoing injuries and trauma. 

However, you can ask for the owner’s insurance information so that you can make a claim. If the owner refuses or if their insurance company won’t pay, you should contact a lawyer.

Contact an Attorney

A dog bite attorney can help you get compensation for your injuries. Not every dog bite attack requires the intervention of an attorney. However, you should contact one when:

  • The dog owner won’t give you their insurance information
  • The owner’s insurance won’t pay all your bills
  • You or your child has ongoing expenses
  • You don’t feel fully recovered from your dog bite

In these situations, a dog bite attorney knows how to help. They can compel the dog owner to give up the insurance company information or work around them. Your attorney will also be able to pursue compensation for all your injuries. A dog bite attorney has worked with many people suffering the effects of a dog bite and will have a good idea about how much your injuries are likely to cost overall. This can help ensure you get compensation for future expenses.

Strict Liability for Dog Bites in California

One of the major differences between dog bite lawsuits and other types of liability is that you don’t have to prove negligence on the part of the dog owner. Instead, dog bites fall under what is called strict liability: all you have to do is prove that you were lawfully in the spot where the attack took place, and that the injuries from the dog bite led to your damages. It’s not necessary to show that the dog owner did anything wrong to get compensation. 

What Types of Damages Can You Seek After Dog Bite Injuries?

When you file a lawsuit related to an injury, the goal of compensation is to erase the damages caused by the injury. The person or persons liable for the injury should pay all related costs. This can include:

  • Medical bills
  • Permanent injuries and disabilities
  • Decreased earning ability
  • Pain and suffering
  • Plastic surgery and other cosmetic treatments
  • Disfigurement
  • Diminished quality of life
  • Ongoing treatment for psychological trauma

The full dimensions of dog bite injuries can be hard to understand. Some things are relatively easy to put a price on. Medical bills, including cosmetic surgery and therapy, for example, are a concrete number. An experienced dog bite lawyer can easily project these into the future. The same is true for decreased earning ability. It’s a number comparing your wages before the incident to those after. 

However, noneconomic damages can be very hard to convey to others, including the insurance company that is offering a settlement or a jury. This is where an experienced dog bite lawyer can really shine: they know how to make your suffering, disfigurement, and diminished quality of life seem real for others. Even if your case doesn’t make it to court (most don’t), this can make a big difference in your settlement offers. 

Benefits of Working with a Dog Bite Lawyer

In some cases, you might think that you don’t need a lawyer to help you after a dog bite attack. However, you will get several benefits from working with a lawyer, including:

  • Handle all legal filings accurately in a timely manner: You are busy dealing with all the medical consequences of the dog bite. Having someone who can deal with the legal consequences can make your life much easier. You can also trust that everything will be handled efficiently and according to the law. 
  • Protect you from claims that might diminish your benefits: Insurance companies will often try to reduce the amount they will have to pay. For example, the other party’s lawyers will try to make it seem as if your injuries aren’t from the dog bite at all. Or they might try to make it seem as if the dog bite is your fault. An experienced dog bite law firm knows how to deal with these strategies to protect your rights. 
  • Get an accurate accounting of your claim’s value: You can add up the total cost of your current bills, but when it comes to estimating your future costs and the value of noneconomic damages, you need someone you can trust on your side to get a favorable total. 
  • Find additional sources of compensation: In practical terms, your compensation following a dog bite attack depends on the dog owner’s ability to pay. A dog bite lawyer knows how to look for insurance policies that might cover the costs, including homeowner’s insurance, general liability insurance, landlord and tenant insurance, pet owners’ insurance, and employment insurance. 

These benefits typically mean that working with a dog bite lawyer won’t cost you additional money: it can mean more money for you, even after you pay the lawyer’s fees. 

Tips for Avoiding Dog Attacks

Better than getting compensation for dog bite injuries is to avoid a dog attack in the first place. Here are some tips to help protect you and your family from dog bites. 

Don’t Approach an Unknown Dog

An unknown dog should be treated as a dangerous dog. We understand that you might be tempted to help a dog that looks lost or scared, but dogs in these situations might be more likely to bite.

Other times, you might think a dog looks playful, but it is actually scared or angry. Because you’re unfamiliar with the dog, you might not be able to read its expressions. If you encounter a strange dog, report it to local animal control to help get it safely off the streets. You can also take its picture and post it on local social media, such as Nextdoor, to help its owner find it.

Talk to a Dog’s Owner before Interacting with It

If a dog is with their owner, it might be safe to interact with it, but ask the owner first. The dog owner will let you know if you can pet or play with the dog. The owner will also tell you if there are particular ways to approach the dog or specific things that might provoke the dog to attack. 

Don’t Try to Take Food or a Toy from a Dog

Even the friendliest dog can be dangerous if you take away something that it values. Dogs can be possessive and will defend their possessions when threatened. 

Don’t Put Yourself between Fighting Dogs

When you see dogs fighting, you might want to step in to help one of them, especially if it is your dog. While this can sometimes work, you will likely be bit. A safer way to break up a dog fight is to spray the dogs with water from the hose. This allows you to intervene without getting involved in the conflict. 

Don’t Follow a Retreating Dog

If a dog leaves an area where you were interacting with it, the dog might be feeling scared or threatened. It is likely trying to retreat to a place where it feels safe, which could be its home, carrier, or bed. Following the dog into its retreat could trigger a defensive response, causing it to bite.

Why Choose Fisher & Talwar

Fisher & Talwar is a law firm with extensive experience helping people get compensation for their injuries, including dog bite injuries. In addition, we have a different approach that sets us apart from other personal injury lawyers, including:

  • Personal attention: Some law firms take on a high volume of cases, and many cases end up handled by junior attorneys. At Fisher & Talwar, we don’t take more cases than we can personally handle. You can be assured that your case will be handled directly by one of our partners. 
  • We have your best interests at heart: Because we aren’t looking to take a large number of cases, we can be selective about the cases we do take. One of the criteria we use to decide what cases to take is whether we think we will actually be able to help you. We won’t take your case unless we believe that you will be better off working with us: that you will get more compensation even after paying our fees than you would get on your own. If we don’t think we can do that for you, we will tell you so, and possibly refer you to someone better suited to your case. 
  • A track record of success: We excel at handling the cases we choose to take on. Our partners have won many cases for our clients, getting compensation up to $6 million for a client in personal injury lawsuits. Check out our verdicts and settlements page for more information on our successful work. 
  • You don’t pay our expenses: Like most personal injury lawyers, we work on a contingency basis: you don’t pay us a fee unless we win money for you. However, some lawyers expect you to pay their fee and pay their expenses. Worse, you may have to pay expenses even if they don’t win money for you. At Fisher & Talwar, you don’t have to pay separate expenses–we pay them out of our fee. And you will never be responsible for expenses if we don’t win money for you. 

If you or a loved one has been hurt by a dog attack or any other pet-related animal bites, don’t hesitate to get help getting the compensation you need to pay medical bills and more. We offer a free and confidential consultation with no obligation. Ask questions. Get answers. Make an informed decision. There’s no cost, even if you choose another lawyer.

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