Dog bite
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive February 2008:
Dog bite
This might should be on the debate board, mods please move if it gets out of hand.
So for the dog owners, what financial responsibility do you think you have if your dog bites some one?
Would you offer to pay copays, insist on doing so, or wait to see if asked?
I was just curious, a friend of mine was badly bitten this weekend. It might require plastic surgery, they are waiting to see how her face heals first. She was walking by the house of someone she knows. They have a short 4foot fence. She leaned in to speak to the son (age 10) and dad who was out there. The dog struck her face. She didn't reach in, didn't lean over, just crossed the fence line. She has 30 stitches and some glue in her face. Her comment was just how fast it happened.
Anyway, so what would you do finacially? Her husband and her have different opinions.
I also think it is a given that the insurance company will petition his insurance company to pay the bills (i know when I get hurt at all they ask specifics on what and where it happened).
In this situation, as the dog owner, I would feel obligated to pay for medical expenses.
The owner's homeowner's insurance policy should pay for her medical bills, IMO. Was a police report filed when she went to the hospital? Here, if you are bitten by a dog and seek medical treatment, it is mandatory for the medical care provider to report it to the police. The dog *could* be taken from it's owner and quarantined. If there are multiple reports on a given animal, it will be put down. Lots of issues with this type of thing!
BTW - I hope your friend will be ok!
OK - the dog owner should immediately notify his/her liability (home-owner's) insurance company (if he doesn't, the victim's husband should request that information - if the owner doesn't provide it, she should give her health insurance company the name and address of the dog owner and they will send a letter which will eventually produce that information). The liability insurance company will certainly contact the victim, and will probably make a low-ball immediate offer. They will probably require her to give a recorded statement (over the phone or in person) before processing her claim. I suggest that she sit down and write down the facts of the event - a script, in effect - and stick to the script when she talks to the dog owner's insurance company. She should not give an opinion, but simply state the facts - I stopped at Mr. X's house to talk to his son, I leaned over his 4' fence, his dog bit me several times on my face, I was taken to the ER by XX, and was treated there. This is the hospital's name, this is the date and time of the event, this is my doctor's name, my health insurance company is XXX.
The victim should NOT accept the first offer because it will almost certainly be a low-ball offer and the release they want her to sign may well include a clause that releases the insurance company from paying for possible future plastic surgery. The victim should get a claim number and contact information (adjuster's name, phone number, mailing address & fax number) from the dog owner's insurance company, and use that claim number and insurance company's contact information for all medical treatment related to the injuries, including any plastic surgery. She should get a referral to a plastic surgeon immediately, because often scarring can be reduced by immediate proper treatment by a specialist. I'm not saying she didn't get proper treatment, but there can be a difference between immediate treatment for injuries and long-term concern about scarring.
She should immediately have someone other than a family member take several photographs of her injuries, while the cuts/bite marks are still vivid, preferably with a film camera, and get the photos printed immediately to be certain they show the full extent of the injuries. She should also get the names and addresses of any witnesses. It's possible photos were taken by the treating hospital or doctor, but she can't count on that.
The dog bite should be reported to the proper authorities, if it hasn't been already. Partly, that's because Texas is a "one bite" dog law state - that is, a dog is not considered dangerous and the dog owner is not considered liable when a dog bites someone unless the dog has previously bitten someone, and partly because all dog bites should always be reported, especially ones as serious as your friend suffered. The fact that the dog was in the owner's yard adds to the complications. Pennsylvania, where I live, became a first-bite state a few years ago; that is, the dog owner is liable the first time the dog bites (assuming the dog wasn't provoked and the victim wasn't a trespasser, etc.). I don't know if this web site is up to date, but it was at least updated after passage of a law in September, 2007. dog bite
I do not encourage law suits in most instances. However, if your friend is not comfortable with what the dog owner's insurance company is saying or offering, she should consult an attorney. Certainly she should not sign a release from the dog owner's insurance company without consulting an attorney first, especially if her co-pays are growing and plastic surgery is a reasonable possibility. And, she should be careful that any release she signs does not make her liable if her health insurance company attempts to recover from the dog owner's insurance company (which the health insurance company almost certainly will). I have seem some releases where the liability insurance company wants the victim to reimburse the liability insurance company for any money it has to pay out to another insurance company (like health or auto insurance), and that would be a really bad deal. For simply reviewing a release, a lawyer should charge an hourly rate. But if she is not able to come to an agreement with the insurance company that she thinks is fair and the lawyer approves, she may have to sue, in which case the lawyer will probably charge a contingency fee - a certain percentage of all monies recovered plus all monies the lawyer paid out as costs. (I suggest strongly that if any lawyer she consults wants an hourly rate for handling her claim - negotiating with the insurance company or filing a lawsuit - that she NOT do that. That can come to a lot of money very quickly, and usually means the lawyer doesn't think she has a very good case. She should consult other attorneys if the first lawyer she talks to suggests an hourly rate for negotiations or a lawsuit.) Some lawyers have two different percentages for contingency fees, a lower one if the matter settles before a lawsuit is filed, a higher one if a lawsuit is filed. This is fair, because once a lawsuit is filed it requires a lot more of the lawyer's time, and time and expertise/experience is what the lawyer is selling and how s/he makes a living.
Please remember - I AM NOT A LAWYER AND I AM NOT ATTEMPTING TO PRACTICE LAW. I am simply providing information based on my reading of newspapers and legal publications in my state - which is NOT Texas. That is why I recommend tht your friend consult an attorney for any legal aspects of this incident.
It's my opinion, based on years of reading, that Texas laws are not very victim friendly, which is why consulting a Texas attorney is important. I'm pretty sure Texas has caps on pain-and-suffering in medical malpractice lawsuits, and may well have similar caps on other kinds of liability lawsuits.
Oh, and your friend, or her husband, should start a diary, describing the incident, and all medical treatments, and include how she feels on each day, how much she hurts, how well she is healing, what the doctors say, how this interferes with her normal life, and so on. You'd be amazed at how quickly one can forget details and memories get confused. Writing it down is important.
Thanks Ginny. I pretty much said to her what you said. Here are some more facts. First she doesn't want to pursue any money. She feels like she was in his space (she was standing on a sidewalk outside the fence though). And they know these people. Her husband is a lawyer, he immediately has done all the right things.
The reason they will have to wait and see for plastic surgery is, one wound has a flap of skin, if it lives, she was sewn so there shouldn't be scarring (quoted as quilted on..lol) But with thin skin, it doesn't always live, so if it falls off she will have to have plastics to keep it from scaring.
My point is as a friend and neighbor, i would pretty easily say, let me pay your co pays. But I would have assumed that my homeowners would have paid in full, that is why we carry insurance. As a victim I would want the dog documented, because the second time I wouldn't be so kind.
Anyway, her hubby is doing the right stuff and my guess is after a few days she will change her mind, she is on pain meds right now and not really herself. Thankful to have her eye quite honestly.
Given that her husband is a lawyer, I am sure all the right things are being done. And it surely gives them better leverage and will make life easier in dealing with the liability insurance company. I agree, if it were me I'd immediately notify my insurance company and give the victim the contact information and my policy number. That's how responsible people act.
Yes, she is probably lucky to have her eye. That is the real risk with dog bites to the face. I learned the hard way that even with a dog one knows well, it's not good to put your face to close to the dog's face. I'm glad she is in good hands medically and with dh.
It's always difficult when a neighbor is involved with one's injury. But, that's why responsible people have insurance - let the insurance companies sort it out. I suspect the dog owner's insurance company is going to come down on him with some rules about how he handles the dog in the future, like keeping it on a leash or chain when outside, now that the dog has bitten someone.
Sadly, most times when a dog bites it is because the owner hasn't taken the time and trouble to train the dog properly. But even a well-trained dog can be territorial - some breeds more than others - and especially if the dog is protective of a child.
I haven't read the responses. I would feel obligated without a doubt to cover medical expenses if I were the owner of the dog. Also, a police report should have been filed, and it *should* be covered by homeowner's insurance.
I agree that the owner should pay the medical expenses one way or another, and it's probably wise for all parties to contact a lawyer, to prevent any disagreement down the line leading to a lawsuit later. You mentioned a short fence, I think that DEFINITELY puts the owner at fault, because the victim was not acting maliciously to the dog, not on the property in an inappropriate way. What if it had been even more serious? That's a scary thing to think about!
Kaye, I know that in TX that if you go to a dr and you have to have stitches for a dog bite that it is well documented and I believe that they take the dog for observation for a few days. My best friend's dog bit her dd (it was the kids fault not that it really matters) but when she went to the dr to have it looked at animal control or whoever it is was called and they took her dog for a couple of days. At least that is how they do it where I live in TX (near Dallas).
Hope your friend heal up quickly and not surgery is needed.
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