Walking a dog is usually a pretty enjoyable experience for most people. However, a dogfight can make this situation difficult to handle. Even worse, a bite injury while breaking up the fight can make a lawsuit inevitable. Unfortunately, these types of cases can be very complex to win.
Understanding Your State's Liability Concerns
Liability for dog bite cases will vary depending on the state. For example, California states that the owner is automatically liable if the bite occurs on public property or if the victim was lawfully behaving on private property. Other states may limit liability depending on the severity of the injury. In most cases, trying to break up a dog fight improperly will lead to a wound.
However, this situation gets confused if another dog is added to the mix. A normally friendly dog may be provoked to strike out if they have a personality conflict with another canine. In some instances, a dog may be trying to assert dominance or simply be an aggressive breed. Sorting out this complication will make your case very complex.
Dog Fights Complicate This Claim
In a typical dog bite case, owner negligence is usually pretty easy to prove. However, a dogfight can make these claims more difficult to prove. That's because dogfights can be so sudden and surprising. As a result, it can be hard to gauge which dog caused the fight and how people reacted to the situation. In many instances, a dogfight occurs, and a person gets bit in less than a few seconds.
Unfortunately, this means that sorting out the timeline of events may be difficult. Further complicating issues, both owners have a responsibility to keep their dogs under control in this situation. If both failed or if the dog who started the fight cannot be established, it may come down to other influences deciding whether or not you win this case.
Other Concerns That May Disrupt The Case
While you should win a dog bite case if you can prove the other dog reacted first, this can be complicated. For example, this situation is often proven by word-of-mouth between the plaintiff and defendant. Getting witnesses to the crime is crucial here. Otherwise, the reputation of each dog is likely to be examined, and the judge will have to make a call based on breed and past signs of aggression in each dog.
Other complications can include the ways that the plaintiff and the defendant tried to break up the fight. If one owner lunged in between the dogs and got bit. As a result, the court may claim that their injuries were due to their own actions. However, a failure to successfully break up a dogfight with distractions or other corrective methods could also complicate the case.
As a result, it is essential to talk to a personal injury lawyer about this type of case before taking them to court. Failure to do so could result in losing the case and ending up having to pay for the hospital and vet bills of the person you attempted to sue.
Contact local personal injury legal help for more information and assistance.
Share28 November 2017
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