by Frank Edwards


Get in touch with an experienced Lancaster personal injury lawyer immediately following your dog bite injury is important. Following a dog bite personal injury, you might be going through substantial pain, treatment, medical expenses and more. With these usually comes pressure from the at-fault party's insurance company to provide your statement of the events that occurred leading up to the dog bite attack, or to settle your case for nickels on the dollar. When you've been attacked by a dog, time is critical. Your chance for a good result to your case improves considerably if you have a competent personal injury attorney defending your legal rights.

Historically within the United States, recovery for injury to the individual or property was based upon one of the legal concepts found within the family of common law torts. These principles consist of trespass, negligence, as well as strict liability. Each concept has its own aspects that should be proven by the injured party before the law would permit financial recovery for the damages caused by a pet.

The legal wrong of trespass occurs when one party goes upon the land of another without authorization. An animal is regarded as a part of the owner of the animal. In case a vehicle was inappropriately parked and rolled onto the land of another, causing damage, then the one who owns the vehicle would be liable for the damages caused. Likewise, it's proper to consider a pet to be a legal extension of the one who owns the pet. Nevertheless, it should be noted that animals represent a complex set of issues and as a result the owner might or might not be accountable for an animal's trespass.

Carelessness allows recovery for the action or lack of action by an animal owner. Recovery at law under this concept needs a showing by the injured party that there was a legal obligation owed to the injured party by the pet owner/keeper, and that the personal injury arose because of a breach of that obligation. Not all harms are recoverable because not all duties of a ethical or social nature rise to the degree of a legal obligation. To establish liability in a canine bite case there are a lot of matters which must be initially considered which might ensure successful disposal as well as early payment of a settlement. Was the person who owned or was in control of the pet irresponsible and did they neglect to take action they should have done or did they do something that they must not have done thereby failing to exercise the mandatory duty of care to the public?

A Lancaster personal injury attorney has to evaluate the case carefully in order to establish liability and negligence. Did the animal control authorities neglect to take action against a known aggresive canine? Does the state, city or town where the attack occurred have statutory strict liability which effectively makes the owner or custodian liable to pay compensation in nearly all circumstances where injury has occurred?

There might be an official record maintained by the animal control government bodies where the attack occurred and where the canine owner previously lived with the attacking canine thereby providing enough evidence on which to base a dog bite case.




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