Compensation Owed To Victim of Dog Bite

If the owner of a pet animal allows that same animal to hurt anyone in any way, then that same owner becomes responsible for the pet’s actions. Depending on the nature of the pet’s action, the target of that same action could get severely injured. The injury would represent a large part of the damages suffered by the pet’s target.

The person that gets bitten by a dog has the same rights as the victim of any accident. He or she can sue the person with the help of an injury lawyer in Milton who caused the accident by being negligent. In the case of a dog bite, the negligent party would be the dog’s owner.

The person sued owes compensation for damages to the victim; what are the typical damages?

Medical expenses: Bills for medical treatment. If the treatment has not yet ended, then the victim can ask to be reimbursed for future expenses. The cost of an X-ray could also be an expense that the victim of a dog bite gets charged.

Pain and suffering: This could include psychological issues, such as the victim’s new fear of dogs. Yet if a child gets bit by a canine, the parent cannot seek compensation for his or her development of emotional distress. In other words, only the pain and suffering experienced by the targeted victim (the person that got bit) gets viewed by the court as a compensable damage.

Lost income: This includes any loss of earning capacity, even if that loss is not permanent. For instance, a service provider might get bitten by a dog, when conducting a service call. The provider’s ability to assist all of his or her clients would be compromised. The victim of the dog bite would have reason to seek compensation for his or her diminished earning capacity.

Some states hit negligent dog owners with the need to pay punitive damages; what are those?

A dog owner that must pay such damages has thoughtlessly allowed a four-legged friend to behave in a manner that could best be described as “out-of-line.” For instance, the court would not look kindly on an owner that had recognized a dog’s tendency to dislike strangers, and still had allowed a small child to try petting the same animal.

In some states where dog owners do not have to worry about punitive damages, anyone with a beloved pet should recognize the existence of a different way for punishing certain adults that own pets. In such regions the court might double the size of the damages, those used to determine the size of the victim’s compensation. It could do that if the canine owned by the negligent adult was known to be vicious or dangerous.