Arizona Dog Bite Guide

How Do I Know If I Have a Qualified Dog Bite Case?

The question often comes up. You’ve been attacked by a dog and been injured. How do you know if you have a qualified claim? That’s a very common question. A potential client called our office the other day and asked that question. Here’s what one of our attorneys responded. The first thing is what is the nature and the extent of the injury. If you have a small puncture wound and that’s it, you probably don’t need a dog bite injury law firm. Even though you may have a claim, you can probably settle that one by yourself. Still, call us and one of our attorneys will still give you guidance to this whole process, explain how to do that on your own. You can always call back for more help. We’ll offer it to you. If you have anything serious, like you’re now having problems using something in your hand or you’ve got a scar or significant injury on your leg or something like that, then you’ve got enough injury that that definitely qualifies. As the attorney explained, that’s the first thing that we look at.

The second thing, and it often is the problem, is insurance coverage. Now, why is that the case? As the attorney explained, now insurance companies are getting a little wiser and they’re not just saying, hey, you own a home so if you own a dog and they bite somebody, we’re going to cover it. They now have provisions there that say if you have a pitbull or some other breeds, we are not covering it, unless you pay extra for that. Sometimes it’s significant or sometimes they just say no, they won’t cover it if you have that breed anyway. They’ve never gone to the extreme of saying, hey, we’re not going to cover any dog because the dog lovers will probably kill the insurance companies. Anyway, that can be a problem meaning that there isn’t insurance coverage.

Another situation, very common, is that you have a renter who doesn’t have renter’s insurance. Let’s just say, it doesn’t even have to be a vicious dog. You never know. Anyway, if it’s a renter without renter’s insurance, then there’s a way you can file a claim against them in small claims court and stuff like that. If you call us, we’ll direct you, but it’s not going to be easy to collect compensation in that situation. Insurance coverage is usually the area that is the biggest issue.

There are sometimes where we had a situation where a homeowner’s association had allowed one of the people in one of the complexes to keep this dog that had already bitten a lot of other people and they hadn’t done anything about it. The other bites weren’t terrible but they were significant. Then they put somebody in the hospital. The dog owner wouldn’t give any insurance information if he had any, who knows. One of our litigation attorneys actually brought a claim against the homeowner’s association because they did have insurance. It was proven that other people had complained and they knew that this dog was likely to attack people. Anyway, there are other situations where there’s no obvious insurance and sometimes we can still get compensation for you.

That’s another reason that, even if you’ve been told there’s no insurance, call us anyway. It takes just a few minutes to talk to one of our attorneys. If we can find a way to get compensation for you, we’ll let you know, and if not, we’ll tell you that, too. Remember, the call is free. The information is free. Referrals to a plastic surgeon or whatever is free. Call us because, if you or a loved one have been a victim of a dog attack, we do care about you.

How Does a Beware of Dog Sign Affect My Claim?

Another common question that comes up for people who are the victims of a dog bite or dog attack is what difference does it make, if any, if the dog owner has in big poster letters beware of dog and has a big menacing looking face there. That question came up recently in a call to our office from a potential client. Here’s what our attorney said. In Arizona, if the claim is made within one year, it really doesn’t matter that much whether there are signs or flashing lights or whatever. If that dog is outside of the property, the owner is going to be responsible no matter what. If they’re inside the property, then it gets more complicated.

For instance, as the attorney explained, if you’re at the house visiting and their dog attacks, in Arizona, the dog owner is still responsible. They’re not going to be able to say, hey, I said beware of dog. That isn’t going to help them, as the attorney explained.

Then there are other situations where, let’s say, the dog is in the backyard and you have a 13-year-old kid go back there. Your dog is on a leash, or hopefully not chained. Then the 13-year-old kid just decides, hey, I’m going to get a rise out of this dog and starts throwing rocks at it and provoking the dog. That can be a situation where then if the dog takes a bite out of this kid’s leg, the dog owner isn’t necessarily automatically responsible. However, provoking the dog is probably one of the few ways that a dog owner might be able to have less responsibility, but generally in Arizona, as the attorney explained the other day, is that a dog owner is responsible for basically any damage or injury that a dog causes if the claim is brought within the first year.

If you have been attacked by a dog, bit by a dog, or a loved one, call us. The call is free. The information is free. We really do want to help our clients that have been injured, attacked, and bitten by dogs, especially if that is you.

How Long Is a Dog Bite Case Going to Take?

This question was asked recently in a call by a potential client who had suffered major attack and scarring from their forearm. What the attorney advised is that in Arizona, in general, you for sure want to resolve your claim within one year or less because that’s much more favorable from a legal perspective. It’s basically if the dog hurts anybody, as the attorney explained, there is something involved called strict liability. It means the owner is responsible. You may have heard in other states there is a “one free bite” rule. There are no free bites in Arizona, unless you wait beyond a year. If you wait beyond a year, then your claim can become more difficult, as the attorney explained.

That’s why it’s important that you call us right away. Even if the other person agrees to pay something, call us anyway because most of the time, 99% of the time, it doesn’t happen. If you wait more than a year, your claim becomes more difficult. Typically, you’ll run into situations where the dog’s owner doesn’t want to give you insurance information. Or, maybe they weren’t truthful with the insurance company. They didn’t tell them that they had a dog or that they lied about what kind of dog it is or all these other things that can come up.

What do you do if they’re your neighbor and you don’t want to have bad relations with the neighbor? That’s another reason to call us because we’ll talk to your neighbor. We’re not going to come in like bad, evil Darth Vaders. We want to resolve this. We usually never file a lawsuit. If we have the insurance information, we’ll just talk to your insurance company. That’s why you have insurance. Just do it low key. Most of the time that works. Now, if the dog owner is somebody three blocks over and not your neighbor and they won’t give us the insurance information, we’ll sue them. That’s even more of a reason to call us. We’re sensitive to your situation. Maybe the dog owner is a relative. We understand. We’ll just work with you and help you or your loved one in the best way.

Now, if the victim is a child, then as the attorney explained in this other situation, you can have more than a year to file a claim until they maybe get to be 18 or older. Again, all those things, that’s a reason to call our law firm. Talk to one of our attorneys. They’ll analyze the case specifically. The good news is most of the time, if there is insurance, then we’re able to resolve that claim without going to court, without filing a lawsuit. If your loved one is a child under the age of 18, there are special provisions for protecting the money that goes to that child and make sure that it’s available. There are also ways that it can be used for education and things like that. Again, call us. We’ll be happy to explain all those things to you.

As far as the total time involved, you want your loved one to get better, maybe do what’s called a scar revision, see if it improves them. Typically, the cases can be resolved in less than a year, and sometimes in just a few months, and occasionally a few weeks. Every situation is different. That’s a reason to call us. Remember, the call is free. If you’ve been suffered a dog attack or a loved one, the call is free. The information is free. It can make a huge difference to you or your loved one, especially for the psychological and emotional injuries if you call us. We’ll give you referrals for free, even if you haven’t decided that you want to hire our firm yet. Just remember that we are here for you.

How Much Is My Dog Bite Case Worth?

Dog bite cases come in many different forms. How does that affect the value? This is one area that maybe if the equal rights amendment, if we had that, it would be the same for men and women, but insurance companies value the claims differently for men and women. Why? They think that if you’re a guy and you’ve got a scar like this, you can say, I’m a macho guy, but if you’re a woman and you carry a scar like that, every time you look in the mirror, you’re reminded about that dog attack. Others ask, how did that happen, whatever, and you can’t hide it with makeup, or whatever. You can’t wear a bathing suit without people going, my gosh, what happened to you?

Insurance companies value those claims higher, as one of our attorneys explained the other day on the phone when someone had suffered a dog attack, especially for little girls. If their faces are mauled, those are definitely going to result in higher settlements. Adjustors in that case are going to pay more money.

Anyway, the value of the claim depends normally on the age and gender of the victim and then the extent of the injuries and particularly scarring. If you want to know in your particular case, give us a call. You can send us photos on the phone, if it’s your loved one or whatever, and we can discuss, one of our attorneys can discuss that in more detail. Remember, the call to us is free. The information is free. It can actually make a big difference, especially if it’s your loved one. You can get money set aside for college so they don’t have to worry about that in the future and maybe payments for the rest of their life. We can actually do that often. Call us. The call is free. The information is free. We really care about helping our clients who have been attacked by dogs and that may include you.

What Should I Do After a Dog Bite?

If you’ve been attacked by a dog, what are your next steps? We had a call come into our office just recently asking that question because dog bites, dog attacks, are shockingly common in Arizona. The numbers are much higher than what you might guess. It really matters when it happens to you.

In that situation, call us, just like that person did who had some serious lacerations on their leg. The dog bit right through their trousers and it wasn’t a pretty sight. In a case like that, of course, the number one thing is the follow-up medical care. If it’s just happened to your loved one or something like that, it’s really important that you call us if you haven’t had a plastic surgeon do the reconstruction because there’s a lot they can do right immediately, I’m talking about within a few hours, that’s less possible in the future. Call us right away if you don’t have a plastic surgeon available to do that and we can make that referral.

If it’s beyond a few days, a few weeks, the other steps you need to do is you can try on your own to get the insurance information or if the animal control has furnished it. Many times, there are situations where the owner of the dog is not clear or the dog owner is refusing to give insurance information. You need to call us right away. Frankly, you need to call us no matter what the situation is to at least get free information and free help and free referrals. Then basically, we wait at least six months and then we see if the scars can be revised or improved. Typically, they can, at least a little bit. Then at that point we have probably the maximum value of the case and we can send the demands to the insurance company and usually settle the case pretty quickly. Remember, we can set aside money for children for even college education. That’s a big deal, so even though the dog attack was something that was very traumatic, still there is a way to benefit your child often in that situation.

Remember, another thing important is don’t overlook the psychological injuries. We can help you, make referrals to trauma counselors, trauma therapists, that can help your loved one get over that trauma that can keep you up at night, wake up your loved one with nightmares, they can re-experience this over and over again, and sometimes it never ends unless they get treatment. Again, call us is you or a loved one have been the victim of a dog attack. The call is free. The information is free. If you’ve been the victim of a dog attack or a loved one, we really do care about you.

Call Our Arizona Dog Bite Lawyers Today

If you or someone you love has been seriously hurt in a dog bite incident, please do not hesitate to reach out to our Arizona dog bite lawyers. We dedicate our practice to helping people like you get the justice that they deserve. If you are looking for strong and dependable lawyers to take on your case, hold the liable party accountable, and push against the insurance company to get the results you deserve, please call us today. We are more than happy to sit down with you during a free consultation and give you invaluable, free injury advice. Call today to set up a free consultation.

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