Did you or someone in your family suffer from a dog bite injury in Delray Beach, Florida? The dog’s owner could owe you compensation, and one of our lawyers can pursue that financial recovery for you.
A Delray Beach personal injury lawyer from Ged Lawyers can work closely with you to determine how the bite affects your family and the best strategy we can use to get a fair settlement or jury award for you. You can learn more during a free consultation today.
What Our Delray Beach Dog Bite Attorneys Can Do for You
Ged Lawyers is devoted to helping Floridians just like you. We want you to take all the time you need to recover from your dog bite. In the meantime, we can take charge of your legal case, working hard at:
Identifying the Liable Party
Dog owners are responsible for their pets’ behavior. If the dog attacks a person for no reason, you deserve the chance to hold them accountable via legal action.
Please tell us if you know the dog owner’s identity. If you do not know who they are, we can aim to get that information by:
- Looking at the police report of the incident
- Reviewing any available video footage
- Talking with witnesses who might know something about the dog
Once we know the dog owner, we can contact their insurance company, explain what happened, and ask it to settle your damages appropriately.
Quantifying Your Losses
How much is your dog bite settlement worth? It is not always an easy question to answer, but it is an important one because you want to:
- Ensure you receive compensation for all your losses
- Be able to tell if and when the insurance company offers less than you deserve
- Itemize a list of the losses from the dog bite in case the insurer wants more detail
Our team carefully examines evidence like medical records, pay stubs, and personal testimony to determine how much to demand for your losses. Your settlement or jury award should include money for things you lost and will lose.
Pursuing a Settlement
A lot of dog bite cases end in settlements. This means you could get your money without taking the dog owner to court and waiting for a trial.
To ensure your settlement meets your present and projected needs, our Delray Beach dog bite attorneys can:
- Present your case to the insurance company
- Use our evidence file to build your case while disproving theirs
- Negotiate a settlement that accurately reflects your damages
- Reject offers that are lower than your losses’ worth
Offers the insurance company makes may not necessarily be fair. Before you sign anything, we can evaluate an insurer’s offer to ensure they intend to compensate you adequately.
Preparing for Trial
Sometimes, a trial is unavoidable. If this happens, do not worry. We always represent our clients at trial so they do not have to worry about presenting their cases to a judge and jury.
Unlike other law firms, Ged Lawyers conducts mock trials to prepare ourselves and our clients for the upcoming courtroom battle. We practice procedures such as:
- Giving oral arguments
- Questioning witnesses
- Submitting evidence
- Interacting with the judge, jury, and defense
At the real trial, we do everything possible to persuade the jury to award our clients the money they deserve.
Rightful Compensation for a Dog Bite Injury in Florida
In Florida, you generally have two years to file a lawsuit against a negligent dog owner (Florida Statutes § 95.11).
With this law in mind, you can understand why it is important to get in touch with our Delray Beach dog bite lawyer as soon as possible after the attack. Doing so can protect your right to seek compensation for:
- Loss of income and benefits incurred if you had to skip work for treatment and recovery
- Loss of earning capacity that we estimate according to how severely your injuries will permanently affect your ability to earn a living
- Medical bills stemming from the need to get stitches, take pain medication, go to the hospital, or treat an infection
- Pain and suffering from the physical and mental trauma of the attack
- Scar tissue from the bite or necessary treatment that will permanently affect your appearance
- A bite-related disability, such as the temporary or permanent inability to use the affected body part
- Impaired quality of life resulting from the bite’s impact on your ability to live independently, go where you want, and do the things you want and need to do
Some damages, like emotional distress, are harder to recover than more concrete damages, such as medical bills. Nevertheless, we can fight for all the damages you deserve, no matter what challenges stand in our way.
What Is a Vicious Dog in Delray Beach?
Per Delray Beach’s Code of Ordinances § 91.25, the city defines a dog as “vicious” when someone complains about how “the dog has attacked or attempted to attack a person on a public street, thoroughfare or other public place” within city limits.
If the city declares a dog vicious, its owner is legally responsible for keeping the animal muzzled in public spaces. Failure to do so could put people at risk, and it will give you additional grounds for taking legal action if it bites you.
A dog does not need to have the “vicious” label for you to file your suit. Ged Lawyers can still seek compensation and justice after a dog bite.
Get the Dog Bite Compensation You Deserve in Delray Beach, FL
Ged Lawyers can confront the liable party’s insurance company and fight for the proper financial awards so that you can recover as fully as possible from a dog bite attack.
Contact our office today to learn more about how our Delray Beach dog bite lawyer can help you.
