What would be the reasonable expectations for someone that has filed a dog bite injury claim?
Claimant should not expect a large settlement, unless the dog’s owner has been eager to settle.
Owners that had a dangerous canine as a pet could not count on relief from the one-bite rule. That same relief would remain unavailable to the owners of dogs that were prone to biting. When enforced, the one-bite rule makes dog-owners responsible for any biting attack that has taken place after a canine pet’s first biting attack.
In areas with a strict liability law, a dog’s owner could be held liable for any biting attack, as long as the injured person had not been trespassing, and had not provoked the canine pet.
Claimants’ damages also affect size of settlement.
• Claimants must suffer real losses.
• Those with a serious injury would be more likely to receive a larger compensation package.
• Issues relating to the size of the claimant’s lost income might also affect the size of that compensation package.
If the lawyer defending the dog’s owner chose to question the claims about the size of the victim’s salary, then that could prolong the entire pre-settlement process. That questioning attitude might arise, if the victim were self-employed.
In that case, the victim/claimant could not obtain a letter from an employer. Hence, the defendant’s lawyer could ask to see more than one document, as proof of the victim’s normal income. In other words, the accuracy and clarity of some victims’ documents could influence the outcome of a dog-bite settlement process.
What sorts of documents could be used by a self-employed man or woman that has been bitten by a four-legged pet? A copy of the previous years’ tax return would be one possible document. Another one could include copies of the relevant pages in the accountant’s book.
Other influential factors
The presence of any witnesses should encourage the dog’s owner to agree to a settlement. Indeed, it would probably be a decidedly fair settlement, as per Personal Injury Lawyer in Huntsville.
The location at which the canine pet had chosen to attack a guest or an invited businessperson could also affect the settlement’s size. For instance, if a pet canine had attacked and bitten a computer technician, then those circumstances would tend to favor the injured party. Of course, if that same technician had been operating his own company, then that fact could prolong the pre-settlement process.
Do victims that love dogs sometimes refrain from filing a personal injury claim? No writer can speak for all victims with dog bite injuries. Still, one mailman that suffered a hand injury, after becoming a certain canine’s target, never did try to learn the result for his own potential injury claim.