So, you are walking your dog idly in the park when another dog suddenly attacks it. Your pet didn’t do anything to trigger the attack and the entire thing happened out of the blue, without any warnings or preliminary signs. The dog that attacked your own managed to cause significant injuries to your beloved pet before his owner got there. Sure, the person apologized but your animal is left with significant injuries. You take it to the vet immediately, only to find out that you have to spend $500 in specialized treatment. Additionally, you are obviously stressed out and particularly scared out of what happened because the other dog was vicious and angry. What can you do? Is there something that the law has to help you with? Or should you just swallow the negative emotions and be done with it?
Dog Owner’s Liability Act
The truth is that the province of Ontario sees a lot of similar cases. And, as such, the legislation has rightfully accounted for this fact and has introduced a series of regulations which govern situations of similar type. This legislation which concerns you directly is the Dog Owner’s Liability Act. It sets forth the necessary provisions which are going to help you navigate through this unpleasant situation. With this in mind, there are certain provisions which concern you directly.
The liability under the act is strict and it applies to damages caused to both people and animals. Therefore, it doesn’t matter, from a legal stand point, whether you get injured or the pet/animal gets injured – the owner of the vicious dog is still going to be held liable.
So, how to proceed? You file a claim towards his insurance company. The reason for this is rather comprehensive and logical – the dog is a belonging of his owner and as such damages caused by it are covered by the homeowner’s home insurance. It’s rather convenient when you think about it. It is good to consult your personal injury lawyer when such an accident takes place. They will be able to guide you about dealing with the damages. They will be able to evaluate the injuries and give you an estimate on the compensatory claim.
However, there are things that you need to account for and that’s certain. For example, if your dog triggered the attack by taunting the other animal, the compensation that you are looking at is going to get severely reduced. This is because that’s called contributory negligence – a fair institute that dampens responsibility in case someone else attribute to the cause.
In any case, you need to make sure that you engage the services of a professional personal injury lawyer. This is something particularly important as it’s going to ensure that you get the necessary legal presentation. It’s going to ensure that you get properly compensated for the damages that you or your pet has incurred as a result of the vicious attack.