What Happens if my Dog Bites Someone? A Legal Perspective скачать в хорошем качестве

What Happens if my Dog Bites Someone? A Legal Perspective

Learn what happens if your dog bites someone. 😢😢 Hey everyone Barry here with the LawFull channel. I’m a personal injury attorney in Chicago. If you want to check me out or you need to talk to me now go to https://www.chicagolegalgroup.com/nee.... And please sign up for our newsletter here – you’ll be notified when we release a new video and get other legal tidbits: https://mailchi.mp/chicagolegalgroup/clg 0:00 Introduction 0:57 First Thing to do if your dog bites someone 1:30 Strict Liability for dog bites 1:41 One Bite Rule 2:30 Dog Bite Prevention 3:00 What Happens if my dog bites someone? 3:30 Will my dog be put down if it bites someone? 3:55 Call your insurance company and report the bite 4:50 What if you don’t have insurance? 7:15 Worst case scenario if your dog bites someone The most important thing to figure out first is what the law is in your state. There are many different dog bite laws though generally speaking I see them fall into 2 camps: the first is called strict liability and the second one is a called a one bite rule. With SL if your dog bites, you’re liable. In a one bite state your dog can basically bite someone once before you are on the hook for the damages. For example, I’m in Illinois, so if your dog bites someone in Illinois – it’s over. You are on the hook. The only question is for how much. In one-bite states, that’s not the case, your dog can bite someone and if you didn’t know of its dangerous propensities before the bite you may not be liable that first time. There are lots of other types of dog bite laws too by the way, some states talk about whether the dog is a listed dangerous animal, like a pit bull and other states use the negligence rules. That’s why its so important to consult with an attorney in your state about whether you are responsible or not. So that answers the question of “liability” for the dog bite. But practically speaking what can you expect and what do you do? Well first of all I’d argue that preventing the dog bite in the first place is the key here. Restrain your dog. Always have it on a leash. And get it vaccinated. If you do these things before it bites you can protect yourself. What happens after the bite? First you can expect the police to get called and animal control might get involved. Sometimes people are worried that if their dog bites someone the dog will be taken away from them or euthanized. It’s a possibility but I haven’t seen that happen in my own practice. Next, call your homeowner’s or renters’ insurance and report the dog bite. A lot of times I’ve seen people hesitant or refuse to give insurance. Never understood that because that’s the surest way to get yourself sued b/c they’ll have no other way to get your insurance info. The single most important thing I can tell you if you own a dog is to get insurance. So if you don’t pick up the phone and call and get it right now. It’s not that expensive and if your dog bites someone you’re going to wish you had it. What if your dog bites someone and you don’t have insurance? Well, then you are on the hook to pay the person’s damages out of your own pocket. You may not have the money to pay them. Long story short is if you don’t pay their damages, they may file a lawsuit against you that you will have to defend. Let’s say you do get sued – you can respond to the complaint or you can ignore it. I strongly recommend responding to the complaint in court but its up to you. So, let’s say the victim goes to court, files a lawsuit and wins a $100k. What’s going to happen? Well first, the dog bite victim is going to try and collect against you by going after assets or garnishing your wages. You also have another option though. Let’s say you get hit with a significant judgment against you, there may be a point where you have to file bankruptcy to protect yourself. Having said all of this – I want to point out that if it was just a minor dog bite for example, chances are pretty good that the victim is going to get a lawyer, they’re going to see that there weren’t severe injuries and if there’s no insurance, there’s a strong possibility they’re going to either drop the claim, try to get compensation for their medical bills from you personally or if they have to file in small claims court against you – and small claims court is meant for you to try and defend yourself. So chances are there’s not too much to worry about. These are for the more serious situations but they bring me back to the one thing I want you to take away from this video and that is prevention by controlling your animal or getting the proper insurance is definitely the way to go. Disclaimer: read the disclaimer in the video. This does not constitute legal advice and communication between LawFull/Chicago Legal Group and commenters does not create an attorney-client relationship.