Dog Bite Settlement

Once you come to an agreement on the amount to pay make sure that you get a release from the victim from further liability.

Dog bite settlement. The settlement process often begins when the dog owner s insurance company makes an initial settlement offer. West virginia has a strict liability statute 19 20 13 in the case of unleashed dogs. Dog bites are a common cause of personal injury claims right behind car accidents and slip and fall injuries. Many different factors come into play including the health and biology of the dog the training and treatment by the owners and environmental.

What is the settlement worth. Average dog bite lawsuit settlement amounts because no two dog bite lawsuits are alike there is no true average settlement amount. If your dog bites someone then you will have to compensate the victim for the bite. In most cases that means filing a claim with the dog owner s homeowners insurance company.

Following are some cases to give you a better idea of how drastically these amounts can vary. Settlement the attorney usually has a number of goals in a dog bite claim. Written by kristoffer diocampo insurance personal injury safety april 09 2020. Ideally you can handle the claim without going to court perhaps by coming to an agreement between yourselves or attending mediation.

Every dog bite case is different but generally speaking a personal injury settlement arising from a dog bite will be based on what the parties estimate a jury would ultimately award the victim and whether there s a good chance the dog owner will be found liable. They include proper compensation for the victim assuring tax exampt status for the interest on a structured settlement getting reductions in claims against the settlement such as those by doctors health insurers and governmental agencies that paid benefits. Dog bite settlements can be very costly once the medical bills are all added up. What legal recourse do you have if a dog bite has caused injury.

Dog bites can cause serious bodily injury to others resulting in expensive claims and even euthanization. The defendant must be motivated to settle. Canine aggression is a difficult subject to accurately predict. With that in mind state farm and the insurance information institute found the average dog bite settlement in 2015 was 32 000.

Both the frequency and value of these types of claims and settlements continue to climb nationwide. When you ve been bitten by someone else s dog you have a right to expect the dog s owner to pay for your damages. It can begin in the first few days after the bite happens and can go right up to the point a jury returns a verdict. The settlement process in a dog bite case is a series of discussions between the victim and the owner of the dog.

In 2010 a police officer in wisconsin was bitten while training a police dog and awarded 39 000 in an insurance settlement.