Medical Malpractice
Personal Injuries
Southern California Dog Bite Attorney
A Dog Bite Attorney in Southern California can help dog bite victims and the parents of animal attack victims
Many of us are pet owners and have one or more dogs we joke are members of the family. According to The Humane Society of the United States, there are approximately 78.2 million owned dogs in the United States, representing 39 percent of U.S. households that own at least one dog. That means that:
- 2 of every 5 homes have dog(s)
- 60% of dog owners own 1 dog
- 28% of dog owners own 2 dogs
- 12% of dog owners own 3+ dogs
But not all dogs are your best friend
While dogs can be a source of joy, and provide us with happiness, they are still lesser-aware animals, and they can be prone to attack by nature or may strike viciously when frightened, cornered or startled. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 4.5 million Americans are victims of dog bites each and every year —many of them innocent children.
Why would I hire an attorney for a dog bite attack?
Are you aware that insurance adjustors regularly settle cases with dig bite victims or the parents of dog bite attacks for 10 to 20 percent of the real value of your dog bite injury case? Insurance adjustors -by definition, training and their reward structure – are simply NOT on your side. In fact, their job is to reduce the value of your case. That’s where hiring a dog bite attorney can help you receive the proper compensation you deserve.
How can I find the money to pay a law firm to protect me?
With our “No Recovery – No Fees” approach to Personal Injury cases, we work for free unless or until we win your case. This is known as a contingency fee arrangement. If we accept your case, we will cover all of the case expenses that must be invested in order to build a strong and winnable case. These expenses usually include paying our skilled dog bite attorneys, covering the costs of our paralegals & staff, costs for obtaining client medical records, veterinary records for attacking animal, hiring a commercial photographer to document the victim’s wounds, paying investigators to research the attacking dog’s history, hiring dog bite experts if negotiations fail and a court case is necessary.
Interestingly, dog bite victims who attempt to negotiate their own settlement with an insurance adjustor will more often end up in a courtroom with a poor case. On the other hand, an experienced dog bite lawyer knows how to collect the evidence and then present the facts and evidence in such a way that let’s the insurance company have a peek at what a court trial might look like if they don’t come to an out-of-court settlement as they more clearly see the risk that a court trial might end up in a monster award (“those crazy juries….”).
What if the animal is owned by a neighbor or acquaintance?
It can be helpful to just explain to the animal’s owner that you have a dog bite attorney that handles your insurance negotiations and will be handling this unfortunate incident with the owner’s insurance company. Remember too that the recovery money that we are seeking as compensation for you or your child’s injury and distress is from the dog owner’s insurance carrier, not from the dog owner directly.
