GTH Dog Bite Attorneys Secure Fair Compensation for Your Medical Care and Emotional Trauma.
Was your child playing soccer at a neighbor’s house when their dog bit your child? Were you recently on your morning run when a dog dashed out of a driveway, biting your legs and knocking you to the ground? Were you visiting a friend when you got up from a couch and their dog bit you in the face, leaving you with a severe scar and injury?
Dangerous dog cases can also involve serious post-traumatic stress disorders that are considered non-economic damages under the law.
Unfortunately, dog bite cases are prevalent and dog bite injuries are often serious. A single dog attack can cause victims and their loved ones a lifetime of emotional distress.
At GTH, our Tacoma dog bite lawyers will guide you through Washington’s dog bite laws so you receive the compensation you need to recover from your injuries or trauma. Our legal team offers a free case evaluation to protect your legal rights. We can advise you on the best steps to take with local animal control officials and offending dog owners.
Dog owners of dogs who bite or cause serious injury to a person are strictly liable for those damages by law in Washington state. Strict liability means that under Washington law owners and homeowners of dogs who bite are legally responsible for their animals inside and outside of their homes, no matter…
- if the owner knew the dog had a previous bite history
- the dog had a previous bite history
- the breed of the dog
- what the circumstances surrounding the animal attack were
- the place of the attack (private property, owner’s property, dog park, etc)
While most dog bite claims are covered by homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, our personal injury attorneys can investigate your case to protect your legal rights and explore all of your legal options.
Dog bite cases are treated like a personal injury case under state law. So dog bite victims have a statute of limitations of three years to file a legal claim.
Our Tacoma and Seattle dog bite lawyers represent injured victims of dog attacks. We review your case for both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include lost wages, medical bills and damage to personal items or perhaps a pet. Non-economic damages include emotional trauma resulting from an attack or the loss of a loved one who may have suffered a wrongful death in a dog attack.
Severe dog attacks and attacks involving multiple dogs attacking small children and vulnerable adults can be fatal. Loved ones of victims of a fatal dog attack have the legal right to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
It is not uncommon for service professionals such as veterinarians, veterinarian technicians, dog groomers, dog walkers, dog sitters, dog trainers or dog photographers to sustain injuries from dog attacks. While service professionals running dog-related PLLC companies carry insurance for their businesses, there may be circumstances that go beyond an assumption-of-risk rule to protect service professionals from dog bites. These cases require careful review by experienced personal injury attorneys.
If you or a loved one sustained serious injuries, lacerations, required medical treatment or medical attention and incurred medical expenses, you should schedule a free consultation with our dog bite lawyers to examine your case. Our law firm can review your case at a GTH law office in Seattle or Tacoma.
Dog bite victims should include photos of their injuries, treatment records (including possible photos or videos of the incidents of the attack) — so the GTH legal team can review your case. Dog bite victims have three years from the date of the attack to file a legal claim or file a claim on behalf of an injured person or child.
Some insurance companies have dog breed exclusions written into homeowner’s and renter’s insurance policies. Injury victims should check with an attorney to determine their legal rights. Our attorneys also have the power to investigate whether a dog had a dangerous dog designation prior to an attack.
Washington state law prohibits breed-ban regulations. Washington law requires that a designation of a dangerous dog is based on the dog’s behavior, not the dog’s breed. Many states have begun to repeal their dog-breed ban regulations after public backlash.
Some insurance companies may exclude coverage of certain breeds from their homeowners insurance policies. Our Seattle or Tacoma dog bite lawyers can investigate specific insurance policies upon reviewing your case.
Washington Attorneys
We will help you understand dog bite law, all of your legal options, important steps to take with animal control, neighbors or offending dog owners. You are not under any obligation to pay a fee for this consultation. We only collect attorney fees when we deliver a strong legal outcome for you on your case.
Clients who consult with attorneys early on their case, typically have stronger legal outcomes when they have the guidance of a legal team to protect their legal rights.
Contact our Seattle or Tacoma office to schedule your consult today.
FAQs on dog bite cases
We recommend you first contact police or animal control to investigate your dog bite case to protect your family and community. If a dog is indeed dangerous, animal control authorities can detain the animal to prevent future injuries to the public or domestic animals.
Once a report of the incident is filed, the case will be investigated by animal control authorities and a hearing on the incident will be scheduled. Contacting an expert dog bite lawyer before the hearing takes place is important to protect your legal rights.
An experienced dog bite legal team can represent you through the hearing process and make sure your economic and non-economic damages are represented through the entire legal process.
Under Washington state law, a dog can be designated as dangerous if it inflicts a bite on a human or domestic animal unprovoked on public or private property. A dog can be designated as dangerous if it chases a person on the streets, sidewalks or any public grounds in a menacing fashion or in an apparent attack. If the dog has a known propensity to attack or cause injury or threaten the safety of humans or domestic animals.
Severe dog attack injuries include broken bones, dog bites or disfiguring lacerations requiring sutures or cosmetic surgery.
Confinement of dangerous dogs
Dangerous dogs must be confined on the owner’s property, securely confined indoors or securely enclosed and locked in a pen or structure. The enclosure must prevent the entry of young children and prevent the dog from escaping, including secure sides and a top. The dog should be protected from the elements in the enclosure.
Pierce County’s Animal Control Office outlines key considerations for how authorities will designate a dog as dangerous. Owners of dogs designated dangerous must take extra measures to keep their dog muzzled while off their property and they must carry liability insurance for up to $500,000.
We recommend that dog bite victims consult with a GTH personal injury attorney to assess dog bite injuries and your legal rights. That said, Dr. Ian Dunbar has developed a dog bite scale based on wound pathology of a dog bite injury.
There are six levels of assessment for dog bite injuries:
- Level 1. Obnoxious or aggressive behavior but no skin contact by teeth.
- Level 2. Skin contact by teeth but no skin puncture. However, there may be skin nicks (less than one tenth of an inch deep) and slight bleeding caused by forward or lateral movement of teeth against skin, but no vertical punctures.
- Level 3. One to four punctures from a single bite with no puncture deeper than half the length of the dog’s canine teeth. Maybe lacerations in a single direction, caused by victim pulling hand away, owner pulling dog away, or gravity (little dog jumps, bites and drops to floor).
- Level 4. One to four punctures from a single bite with at least one puncture deeper than half the length of the dog’s canine teeth. May also have deep bruising around the wound (dog held on for N seconds and bore down) or lacerations in both directions (dog held on and shook its head from side to side).
- Level 5. Multiple-bite incident with at least two Level 4 bites or multiple-attack incident with at least one Level 4 bite in each.
- Level 6. Victim dead
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