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Dogs provide people with protection, companionship, entertainment, and more. Most people with pet dogs consider them to be a part of the family. Unfortunately, however, dogs sometimes attack, and the resulting injuries can be severe. Dogs cause countless injuries every year in the U.S. Therefore, it’s important to know how to react following a dog bite. In this article, we discuss how to document your injuries following a dog bite in New York.
Compensation for Dog Bite Injuries in New York
New York uses a variation of what is often called the “one-bite rule.” People sometimes believe that this rule means that a dog’s owner is allowed one free bite before he or she will be held responsible for a dog’s attack. However, this isn’t accurate. Rather, a dog owner can be liable for an attack by the animal if he or she has prior knowledge of the pet’s vicious propensity. In other words, there isn’t a requirement that a dog has previously attacked or bitten someone for its owner to be liable. Instead, a dog owner is strictly liable for all damage caused by his or her dog’s bite if the owner knew or should have known that the dog was dangerous.
Documenting a Dog Bite Injury
Following a dog bite, it is important to document your injuries. Documenting your injuries will help improve your odds of obtaining financial compensation. Below are some of the ways to document your dog bite injury.
Pictures: Following a dog bite, you should take pictures of the injury. In addition, you should take pictures of the bite as it heals to show the injury’s progression.
Video: Although not always available, dog attacks are occasionally captured on video, particularly if they occur in a public location. In addition, home security cameras sometimes capture footage of dog attacks. If video evidence of your attack is available, you should take steps to carefully preserve the video. In addition, much like photos of your injury, you can take video footage of your bite over time to capture evidence of its progression.
Witness statements: Finally, following a dog attack, it’s important to identify anyone who witnessed the incident. In addition to collecting the names and contact information of witnesses, you should ask them to provide statements. These statements should describe what they witnessed at the time of the attack. The more details these witnesses can provide, the better. In addition, you should ask the witnesses to state whether you did anything to provoke the attack.
Contact a Long Island & New York Personal Injury Lawyer
If you’ve been bitten by a dog in Long Island or New York, you need an experienced lawyer on your side. At Dell & Dean, PLLC, we will review the facts of your case, obtain documentation, and aggressively seek compensation from the responsible party. Please contact us today to arrange a consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer.
