Ever owner of a large nervous dog worries about the dog’s reaction to strangers. As a pet sitter you too might be nervous with certain animals. If you do incur a dog bite injury think about claiming on your insurance. Here are some suggestions on what to consider when calculating the settlement amount.

How To Calculate Settlement Amounts From A Dog Bite Injury

After a dog bite injury, you may be wondering who is going to pay your medical bills, bills for any pets that were also injured in the bite, and any property damage that was done as well. You may be suffering from extremely life-changing injuries, especially in the hands, which is probably makes life a lot harder to navigate without it’s for use.

Depending on the circumstances of your incident and the experience of your personal injury attorney, your dog bite case may be worth a significant amount of money. To learn more about what you can do about your dog bite injury click here.

What is personal injury law?

Personal injury law is an umbrella term that includes medical malpractice, car accidents, product liability, and slip and falls, and not all personal injury attorneys practice the same areas. A practicing lawyer may be an expert in different fields like those who work as criminal lawyers or labor attorneys, to name a few.

Make sure to go for lawyers that are experts in working cases related to physical dog bite injury cases for a higher chance of winning your case, and securing sufficient compensation.

So before you hire a Washington DC lawyer, you want to see their track record in representing plaintiffs who have suffered injuries from dog bites.

Calculating Dog Bite Compensation

Damages such as lost wages or medical expenses can be easily calculated. Yes what you will receive in non-economic damages is harder to predict. Non-economic damages are those that matter greatly but can’t have a value placed on them, such as pain and suffering.

If this dog bite injury significantly changed the way that you use your hand, wrist, or arm, then that will have a psychological impact on you., and an impact on your abilities.

It is your attorney’s job to advocate for you to get you the most compensation for this undue burden.

It it likely that they will say it has changed your life due to the dog owner’s negligence.

What are some factors that affect how much compensation I receive?

There is no way to find out exactly how much you are going to receive in damages. And there’s no specific formula to calculate.

But there are some things that affect how much you can receive for the pain and suffering:

• Whether or not the injured person was in a public place or lawfully in a private place
• If there was physical disfigurement or scarring due to the dog bite injury
• Where the scar is: scars on the face are considered more emotionally traumatizing than on non-visible body parts
• Age of the victim: Personal injury compensation cases involving children, who can be emotionally scarred or traumatized for many years
• Whether or not the victim of the dog bite injury will need ongoing medical care

Contributory negligence

This means that the victim contributed to their own injuries. This can reduce the amount recovered from the defendant in damages. If a dog bite injury victim is even partially to blame for the fight, such as provoking the dog, then it’s unlikely that they will be able to recover compensation.

How A Dog Bite Attorney Can Help You

In Washington DC, dog owners are prohibited from letting their pets roam “at large”.  This helps to minimise stray dogs and dog bite injury accidents. They are even prohibited from letting them off the premises or out of immediate control.

If you were attacked by a dog that was not on its owner’s premises and was not wearing a leash, or at least under the immediate control of the owner or someone who could restrain it, then you may be able to sue the owner for your dog bite injuries.

As mentioned, you may have to fight hard in a dog bite injury claim, against the accusation that you provoked the animal.   The dog bite puncture wound treatment may take a while to help you heal. Call an attorney today to find out if you can recover damages for your dog bite injury. Let them fight for you so you can focus on your healing.

Further reading on petsitting, dogs and puppy sitting

At Housesitmatch.com we like to share useful blogs and practical advice about housesitters, housesitting and pet sitting. We hope you find this small selection of our blogs on house sitters useful.

Dog bite injury settlement – Calculation

Puppy training Top Tips for new dog owners

A working dog parent’s guide to puppy ownership

What a housesitter does – Top 10 responsibilities

Top dogsitting tips for beginners

What is House Sitting?