What factors impact settlement amounts for dog bite claims?

The settlement value of dog bite claims are similar in many respects to other personal injury cases, but they do have their own fine nuances. In a dog bite case, an individual can recover and we seek recovery for not only pain and suffering, any emotional trauma that may have happened, but we also seek where a person has lost them economic damages such as lost wages. If the dog bite and the injury has caused them to be out of work for a period of time, we will seek those wages for that person. We will also seek wages for any lost earnings that project into the future past the time of the settlement. A person who’s been bit by a dog can also seek to be compensated for their medical expenses that they’ve paid out of pocket and we actively and vigorously pursue those.

One of the finer nuances of dog bite cases — and this is because of the nature of what a dog bite is — is the injury is a ripping and a tearing, which is very different from a straight cut or a laceration which may heal up sort of cleanly. Dog bite cases also frequently have significant and permanent scarring. Now, we don’t just assess for the nature of the scar at the time of the settlement, but we frequently will involve medical experts to offer opinions and projections about what that scar is going to look like as the individual ages and progresses through life. And if it’s something that may be with them for a while, we’ll seek compensation for that.

Projected into the future past the settlement. They could also include lost earnings or lost wages both before the time of the settlement and after if we’re able to make an accurate projection, which we do.