Temecula Dog Bite Attorney

Temecula Dog Bite Attorney

What to do after a Temecula Dog Bite

If you have been seriously injured in a Temecula Dog Attack, please give us a call today for your complimentary, private consultation with a knowledgeable Temecula Animal Bite lawyer.

The initial things to do after being bitten

It is very important identify the animal that bit you, because if it is a stray and you are not able to identify it, you’re facing the possibility of needing to undergo treatment for rabies, which can be unpleasant. Also, if you were attacked by a dog or any wild animal being kept by a person, you probably are eligible to receive compensation via the animal’s owner, and you also might really need that compensation to cover your medical charges, reimburse you for lost income, pay for plastic surgery later on, as well as allow you to rise above the discomfort and suffering from your injuries.

After that, get medical attention. You will undoubtedly be in good company, because 1,000 Americans arrive in emergency rooms every single day of the year because of animal attacks alone! If you are injured around the face, insist on treatment by a cosmetic surgeon because emergency room doctors are great at keeping men and women alive but not always one of the best at making stitches and wounds look good. After that, make sure to follow the guidelines from the physician and take all of the prescriptions that are prescribed (except for the painkillers, which normally are usually your discretion). You may also be ordered to stay out of the direct sun light, use sunscreen, use scar tissue reduction cream, change bandages, report for follow up treatment, report for removing stitches, massage the recovering locations, etc. If that’s the case, do it!

The verdict as to whether you need rabies shots has to be left to your doctor. Shots are not always necessary, because rabies may not be in your geographic location. Don’t be concerned if your doctor tells you that you do not need this uncomfortable treatment.

If you have been seriously injured in a Temecula Dog Attack, please contact us now for a free, confidential consultation with an experienced Temecula Dog Attack attorney.

If the dog owner is insured, you might get a call from an insurance provider representative. You should question him or her for the following information:

• Name of insurance company
• Address of his or her business office
• Telephone number
• Claim number
• Name of the person who is covered by insurance
• The amount of money available to compensate medical costs (not everything, just medical expenditures)

Do not do any of the following:

• Do not talk about money, payment of money, repayment, personal injury value or anything else connected with money
• Do not set up an appointment
• Do not write a letter or a memo
• Do not permit yourself to be tape recorded
• Do not permit the victim to be photographed
• Do not talk about who is responsible
• Do not accept any money

Ways to protect your rights

If you have been injured in a Temecula Animal Attack, please give us a call right now for your no cost, confidential consultation with a knowledgeable Temecula Animal Bite lawyer.

A dog attack victim must do the following things to protect his or her rights:

• Identify the dog. In an extremely serious circumstance, this may entail getting and analyzing a DNA sample, which would require an attorney’s involvement.
• Get the name and address of the owner of the dog, when possible. If you can, acquire the dog permit details.
• Get the name, address and telephone number of any prospective witnesses. You may need to go back to the accident scene, and knock on the doors of neighborhood houses and businesses. You also should revisit the scene of the incident a couple of times at the same time when the incident took place, because individuals often have a habit of coming to the same spots as section of their daily regimen.
• Take pictures of all of your injuries, bruises and bloody clothing.
• If possible, attain insurance details from the dog owner.
• If skin was lacerated or even more serious, or if the injury was to the face, or if the victim was a child, you can and should talk to a lawyer at no cost.
• Get your lawyer started when the info is new! The details of your claim must be proved; the degree of your wounds must be established. As noticeable as the facts and wounds may be to you, they will not likely be apparent to an insurance adjuster sitting at a desk in an office building a few weeks or months after the attack. On top of that, physicians are more interested in healing you than proving the nature and severity of your injuries to an insurance carrier, so the proper paperwork must be requested from them at the appropriate times. Your lawyer will obtain the essential facts and keep an eye on your treatment, so the insurance adjuster will fully grasp exactly what occurred, and will ensure that you get an acceptable amount of money, whenever possible.
• Retain your attorney before doing any kind of proceeding relating to the dog! The laws of most cities, counties and states permit local authorities to decide whether a dog is dangerous and, in that case, the fate of the dog. Often this is referred to as a “dangerous dog hearing,” however it goes by other names as well. Because “dog court” procedures may accidentally compromise the victim’s rights, she should never contact animal control authorities until her attorney reviews the city and county ordinances, obtains the department’s commitment as to which laws and methods they will be following, and is fulfilled that the concerns addressed below will be solved fairly. If the victim obtains a subpoena, her testimony is required, making it even more critical to instantly consult with an attorney — because a subpoena must be followed, to its letter.

If you have been injured in a Temecula Animal Bite, please give us a call now for your no fee, private assessment with an experienced Temecula Dog Bite attorney.

The victim should never do the following:

• Do not sign anything! Yes, you typically can sign the hospital entry files (provided that you were not bitten in the hospital itself). However, sign nothing offered by any insurance company, the owner of the dog, or the landlord or other owner of the property where the attack took place. Do not write to, or make a report for, any insurance company, dog owner, or property manager or other property owner.
• Do not hesitate to consult an attorney! There are laws called “statutes of limitations.” They say that you lose all of your rights unless you file a court case within a certain timeframe after sustaining a bodily injury. Therefore, get in touch with a lawyer without delay.

The dog bite victim’s right to a lawyer

A dog attack victim may incur many different kinds of damages and losses, from medical payments and emotional injury, to loss of the opportunity to earn income in the future because of disfigurement. A victim may be eligible to recover these losses from someone else and that individuals insurance company, given that the victim presents the required proof, first to the insurance company and then possibly in a court of law. There are two sets of laws the victim must abide by, particularly those spelling out who is liable for the injuries and losses, and those imposing strict rules of evidence and procedure to identify that liability.

If you have been seriously injured in a Temecula Dog Bite, please give us a call right now for a free, private consultation with a skilled Temecula Dog Bite lawyer.

Parents have particular criteria when their children are hurt.

A wounded person and his or her loved ones are not emotionally qualified of vigorously enforcing their privileges. The most significant task they confront is ensuring that the victim heals. In death cases, the loved ones grieve; it doesn’t acquire information and put together legal briefs. In cases short of death, the victim and his or her family must be optimistic, so the tendency is to reduce the hurting, even ignore it as much as possible. Nevertheless, it is there, and it may stay there for quite a long time — forever, if wounds turn into ugly scars. Therefore, a vigorous advocate is a necessity.

An attorney with experience in defending persons with these injuries brings value to your claim. He or she has examined the effects of dog bite injuries, how to obtain the facts critical to completely prove not only what took place in the past but also what the future outcomes will be, the practices and procedures of insurance companies when handling major instances like these, and how to effectively examine these situations to ensure that the victims get what they deserve. An attorney with expertise has the capacity to objectively evaluate both the strengths and the weaknesses of a lawsuit. Furthermore, a lawyer is the only person that can turn a claim into a lawsuit if you are not being treated fairly. Without the presence of threat of a lawsuit, you’re at the mercy of the insurance provider.

Furthermore, the treatments frequently followed by animal control departments in “dog court” hearings may unexpectedly endanger the victim’s rights. A victim and her relatives consequently shouldn’t talk with animal control authorities until her lawyer reviews the city and county ordinances, obtains the department’s dedication as to which laws and procedures they will be following, and is satisfied that the challenges addressed elsewhere in Dog Bite Law will be solved fairly.

If you have been seriously injured in a Temecula Animal Bite, please give us a call now for a no cost, private assessment with a knowledgeable Temecula Animal Bite attorney.

The risks of not retaining an attorney

If you are working with the insurance company without a lawyer, then, as seriously as you are taking your injuries, the insurance company isn’t — there is no doubt of that.

Other people with similar injuries have retained attorneys to present their claims to that very same insurance company. One issue that all those people have in common is an attitude of seriousness about what happened to them, and a driving wish to make sure they are dealt with fairly. The insurance firm will pay the suitable amount to people, but not the ones who don’t take the initial step of defending their rights by holding onto a lawyer.

The individual at the insurance firm that you are working with (called the “adjuster”) may look sincere and sympathetic — a very, excellent person, a caring person. However, he or she must report to other individuals you will never talk to: a supervisor, a lawsuits examiner, a local supervisor, and eventually the corporate office. The adjuster is paid a salary and has a family. He or she wants to proceed working for that business, and maybe get a raise and a promotion. None of that will be risked for you.

Even if the adjuster wants to assist you, because of some rapport that you think has developed among the two of you, you will not necessarily be cared for fairly by the supervisor, claims examiner, regional manager, and corporate office. They don’t know you. To them, you are nothing at all but an individual with no a lawyer.

You’re not working with the adjuster, you are dealing with a faceless corporation, and to that corporation you are nothing but a file, a liability, a person that needs money which otherwise might be dispersed to the investors as profit.

If you do not retain an attorney, you are on your own, against all individuals at the insurance company, and all of its lawyers. When was the last time that you heard a happy ending to that story?

The expenses of creating a law suit are frequently somewhat small, when compared to the amount of money that will be obtained. In an average lawsuit, they might come to between $1000 and $2000. However, cases which are being prepared for trial end up being very expensive — tens of thousands of dollars. Fortunately only 2% of lawsuits actually go to trial, so there is no significant risk of the fees “consuming up” the recovery.

It should be noted that the contingency fee system is distinctively American and that it has been under attack in recent years. Because it enables ordinary individuals to get legal help, the corporate world — insurance providers and other industries — may be seeking to pass laws to abolish or cripple it. These laws take numerous distinct forms, such as an arbitrary limit on the amount that a victim’s lawyer may charge. Note that only the victim’s lawyer would be subject to any restriction, while the insurance industry’s lawyers would carry on to not only charge their usual hourly rates but also rely upon the vast monetary coffers of their prosperous clients. The tort system is available for the benefit of ordinary people rather than the interests of the business world, and therefore the system and its key players (the victims and their attorneys) continuously experience attacks and continually must fight for their legal rights.

If you have been injured in a Temecula Dog Attack, please give us a call right now for a no cost, confidential assessment with a skilled Temecula Dog Bite lawyer.