The Initial Things to Do After Being Bitten
It is important to identify the dog that attacked you, because if it is a stray and you are not able to identify it, you’re facing the possibility of needing to undergo treatment for rabies, which can be painful.
Also, if you were bitten by a dog or any wild animal being kept by an individual, you probably are qualified to receive compensation via the dog’s owner, and you may possibly really need that compensation to cover your medical bills, reimburse you for lost income, pay for plastic surgery later on, and allow you to overcome the pain and being affected by your injuries.
After that, get medical attention. You will be in good company, because 1,000 Americans show up in emergency rooms every day of the year because of dog bites alone! Should you be injured on the face, insist on treatment by a plastic surgeon because emergency room physicians are excellent at keeping men and women alive but not necessarily the best at making stitches and wounds look great.
After that, be sure to keep to the instructions from the doctor and take every one of the prescribed medicines which are prescribed (except for the painkillers, which normally are usually your discretion). You may additionally be directed to stay out of the sun, use sunscreen, use scar reduction ointment, change bandages, report for follow up treatment, report for removing of stitches, massage the healing areas, etc. If so, do it!
The verdict as to whether you will need rabies shots needs to be left to your physician. Shots are not always necessary, because rabies may not be in your geographic area. Do not be frightened if your physician tells you that you do not have to have this painful treatment.
If you have been seriously injured in a Pasadena Dog Bite, please call us right now for a no cost, confidential consultation with an experienced Pasadena Animal Bite lawyer.
If the dog owner is insured, you might get a call from an insurance provider representative. You should question him or her for the following information:
- Name of insurance company
- Address of his or her company
- Telephone number
- Claim number
- Name of the individual who is covered by insurance
- The amount of money offered to pay medical expenses (not everything, just medical bills)
DO NOT DO any of the following:
- talk about money, payment of money, repayment, personal injury value or anything else connected with money
- set up a session
- write a letter or a memo
- allow yourself to be tape recorded
- allow the sufferer to be photographed
- focus on who is responsible
- accept money
Ways to Protect Your Rights
If you have been seriously injured in a Pasadena Animal Attack, please give us a call right now for a no fee, confidential consultation with a knowledgeable Pasadena Dog Attack attorney.
A dog attack victim needs to do the subsequent things to protect his or her legal rights:
- Identify the dog. In an incredibly serious circumstance, this could entail getting and analyzing a DNA sample, that will call for a lawyer’s involvement.
- Get the name and address of the owner of the dog, if possible. If you’re able to, acquire the dog permit information.
- Get the name, address and telephone number of any likely witnesses. You might have to return to the accident scene, and knock on the doors of neighborhood homes and businesses. You should also revisit the scene of the accident a couple of times at the same time at which the incident happened, because people may have a habit of visiting the same places as section of their daily routine.
- Take photos of all of your injuries, bruises and bloody garments.
- If possible, attain insurance details from the dog owner.
- If skin was lacerated or even more serious, or in the event the injury was to the facial area, or if the victim is a young child, you can and should talk to an attorney for free.
- Get your lawyer started when the info is new! The facts of your claim need to be proved; the degree of your injuries need to be recognized. As apparent as the specifics and injuries may be to you, they are not going to be obvious to an insurance adjuster sitting at a desk in an office building a couple weeks or months after the attack.
Furthermore, physicians are more interested in curing you than proving the type and magnitude of your injuries to an insurance provider, so the proper paperwork must be asked for from them at the proper times.
Your lawyer will obtain the essential facts and keep track of your treatment, so the insurance adjuster will fully grasp exactly what occurred, and will provide you with an adequate amount of money, whenever possible.
- Retain your lawyer prior to participating in any proceeding relating to the dog! The laws of most cities, counties and states make it possible for local authorities to determine whether a dog is dangerous and, in that case, the fate of the dog.
Often this is referred to as a “dangerous dog hearing,” but it goes by some other names as well. Because “dog court” procedures may inadvertently compromise the victim’s legal rights, she should never talk to animal control authorities until her attorney reviews the city and county ordinances, gains the department’s commitment as to which laws and procedures they will be following, and is fulfilled that the problems addressed below will be settled fairly.
If the victim gets a subpoena, her testimony is essential, making it even more necessary to instantly speak with with a lawyer — because a subpoena must be followed, to its letter.
If you have been injured in a Pasadena Dog Bite, please give us a call today for a no fee, private assessment with an experienced Pasadena Dog Bite lawyer.
NEVER DO the following:
- sign anything! Yes, you usually can sign the hospital admission documents (given that you were not bitten in the clinic itself). However, SIGN NOTHING displayed by any insurance company, the owner of the dog, or the landlord or other owner of the property where the assault happened. Do not write to, or make a report for, any insurance company, dog owner, or landlord or other property owner.
- be reluctant to consult a lawyer! There are laws called “statutes of limitations.” They say that you eliminate all of your legal rights unless you file a court case within a specific period of time after sustaining a bodily injury. For that reason, DON’T BE RELUCTANT and contact an attorney as quickly as possible.
The Dog Bite Victim’s Right to a Lawyer
A dog attack victim may incur many various kinds of injuries and losses, from medical debts and mental damage, to loss of the chance to gain income in the future because of disfigurement.
A victim may be eligible to get back these losses from someone else and that individuals insurance company, provided that the victim provides the essential resistant, first to the insurance company and then perhaps in a court of law.
There are two sets of laws the victim must abide by, specifically those spelling out who is accountable for the injuries and losses, and those imposing tough guidelines of data and procedure to set up that liability.
If you have been seriously injured in a Pasadena Animal Attack, please give us a call now for your complimentary, private assessment with an experienced Pasadena Dog Bite lawyer.
Parents have special criteria whenever their children are harmed.
An injured person and his or her loved ones are not emotionally equipped of vigorously enforcing their privileges.
The biggest task they face is ensuring the victim heals.
In death cases, the family members grieve; it is not going to collect proof and prepare legal briefs. In cases short of death, the victim and his or her family need to be optimistic, so the tendency is to lessen the hurting, even disregard it whenever possible.
Nevertheless, it is there, and it may remain there for a long time — for good, if wounds turn into ugly scars. Therefore, a vigorous advocate is a necessity.
An attorney with experience in defending persons with these injuries brings value to your claim. He or she has studied the effects of dog bite injuries, how to collect the proof needed to completely prove not only what happened in the past but also what the future consequences will be, the practices and steps of insurance firms when handling major cases like these, and how to effectively review these situations to make sure that the victims get everything that they deserve.
An attorney with knowledge has the capacity to objectively evaluate both the strengths and the weaknesses of a lawsuit. Furthermore, an attorney is the only person that can turn a claim into a lawsuit if you are not being treated fairly. Without worrying about threat of a lawsuit, you are at the mercy of the insurance firm.
Furthermore, the procedures normally followed by animal control departments in “dog court” hearings may unintentionally compromise the victim’s rights. A victim and her relatives therefore shouldn’t talk with animal control authorities until her lawyer reviews the city and county ordinances, acquires the department’s determination as to which laws and techniques they will be following, and is pleased that the issues dealt with elsewhere in Dog Bite Law will be settled fairly.
If you have been seriously injured in a Pasadena Animal Bite, please call us today for your free, private consultation with a knowledgeable Pasadena Dog Attack attorney.
The Hazards of Not Retaining a Lawyer
If you are dealing with the insurance firm without an attorney, then, as seriously as you are taking your injuries, the insurance carrier isn’t — there is no doubt of that.
People with very similar injuries have retained attorneys to show their claims to that same insurance company. One point that all those individuals have in common is an attitude of seriousness about what happened to them, and a driving wish to ensure they are cared for fairly.
The insurance firm will pay the correct amount to the individuals, but not the ones who don’t take the initial step of guarding their rights by maintaining an attorney.
The person at the insurance firm that you are dealing with (called the “adjuster”) may seem honest and sympathetic — a very, very nice individual, a nurturing person. However, he or she must report to other people you will not talk to: a supervisor, a lawsuits examiner, a local manager, and ultimately the corporate office.
The adjuster is paid an income and has a family. He or she wants to carry on working for that company, and perhaps get a raise and a promotion. None of that will be risked for you.
Even if the adjuster hopes to assist you, because of some bond that you think has developed among the two of you, you will not necessarily be treated fairly by the supervisor, claims examiner, regional manager, and corporate office. They are not familiar with you.
To them, you’re nothing at all but a person with an attorney.
You’re not working with the adjuster, you are dealing with a faceless corporation, and to that company you are nothing but a file, a liability, an individual who needs money which otherwise would be dispersed to the shareholders as profit.
If you do not retain a lawyer, you are on your own, against all people at the insurance company, and all of its attorneys. When was the last time that you heard a happy ending to that story?
The fees of creating a lawsuit are frequently reasonably small, compared to the amount of money which is to be received. In an common lawsuit, they may come to between $1000 and $2000.
However, cases that are being prepared for trial end up being very expensive — tens of thousands of dollars. Fortunately only 2% of lawsuits actually go to trial, so there is no major risk of the fees “consuming up” the recovery.
It should be noted that the contingency fee system is exclusively American and that it has been under attack in recent years. Because it enables ordinary citizens to obtain legal help, the corporate world — insurance companies and other industries — has been seeking to pass laws to abolish or cripple it.
These laws take numerous different forms, such as an arbitrary limit on the amount that a victim’s lawyer may charge. Note that only the victim’s attorney would be subject to any restriction, while the insurance industry’s attorneys would continue to not only charge their usual hourly rates but also rely upon the substantial monetary coffers of their wealthy customers.
The tort program exists for the advantage of regular people as opposed to the interests of the business world, and therefore the system and its key players (the victims and their lawyers) constantly experience attacks and continually need to fight for their rights.
