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A dog bite may sound minor, but many bites cause serious injuries, including deep lacerations that require stitches, broken bones, infection, scarring, and mental trauma. If a dog bites you, seeking medical care is essential, even if the bite wound seems small.
Proper cleaning and treatment will reduce your risk of infections and scarring.
Unfortunately, some people who experience dog bites find themselves in a difficult position, especially if they know the dog’s owner. They may have medical bills for their injuries, or they might have to miss work while they recover, or both.
Sometimes, people tell us they don’t want to ask their friend or neighbor to pay their medical bills, but they can’t afford the expense. Others have already asked the dog owner to cover their costs, and the owner refused.
Get Help From a Dekalb County Dog Bite Attorney
Getting the dog’s owner to pay for your medical bills and other damages can be challenging on your own, but a dog bite attorney can help you understand your options and create a plan to recover your damages. We’ll study the details of your case, answer your questions, and explain the possibilities for seeking compensation.
Does Georgia Have a One Bite Rule for Dogs?
The rules about a dog owner’s liability for a dog bite vary from state to state. Some have “strict liability” for dog owners, while others use a “one bite rule” where the owner is only liable if they knew or should have known the dog was dangerous—for example, if the dog has previously bitten someone.
Georgia uses a modified one-bite rule that allows a dog to be considered dangerous in certain circumstances even if it did not previously bite anyone:
- Owner carelessness. If the owner allows the dog to roam freely in a city or municipality with a leash law, the dog can be considered dangerous regardless of its history. In Dekalb County, it’s illegal to let your dog run off-leash outside of your property. Animals should be securely contained on the owner’s property but not tethered unless the owner is within the dog’s reach.
- History of aggressive behavior. A dog doesn’t have to bite someone to display aggressive behavior. If the canine has a history of charging at people or other animals, pronounced growling or snarling, aggressive or excessive barking, or trying to get away from the owner to attack others, it might be considered dangerous. It will be necessary to prove that growling, snarling, or barking was excessive—if the dog barked or growled once or twice, it may be hard to make a case that it was aggressive.
- The attack was unprovoked. If you were standing around not bothering anyone, and the dog ran up and bit you, the attack was probably unprovoked. However, to defend against your claim, the owner might say you provoked the dog. Examples of provocation include yelling at or taunting the dog, throwing things at it, hitting it, trying to take its food or water dish, or taking its puppies. If the dog owner erroneously claims you did any of these things, talk to a lawyer immediately. We’ll work to find evidence showing what really happened, such as photos or videos, witness testimony, and more.
- The victim wasn’t trespassing. Sometimes, the dog owner will argue that the injured person was trespassing on the property or in the process of committing a crime. Generally, owners are not liable in these situations, but they must prove that the dog was defending its owner or the injured party was actually trespassing. Your lawyer will work to show that you were on the property legally and were not taking any illegal actions at the time of the attack.
What if a Dog Bites While You Are Delivering Food or Working on the Property?
We see many cases involving food delivery workers attacked by dogs, especially as delivery services have become more popular. It’s easy to understand why this happens—dogs often come running when they smell food and may be enthusiastic about trying to get the food.
The delivery person doesn’t want the dog to get the food because that’s likely to lead to a customer complaint. Then, the dog becomes aggressive and ends up biting or otherwise hurting the delivery person, and the owner blames them.
If your job requires you to be on someone else’s property, that doesn’t count as trespassing, so that will not be a valid defense for the owner. However, they might claim that you attacked or provoked the dog while simply trying to keep a bag of hamburgers out of its reach.
If the dog jumps on you and you try to push it away, that doesn’t mean you provoked the dog (although the owner may have a different view of things). In these situations, it’s crucial to talk with a lawyer as soon as possible after your injury.
These days, doorbell cameras are standard in many residential areas. Even if the dog owner doesn’t have one or the video is mysteriously missing or erased, other neighbors may have captured the dog bite.
Our investigators will immediately start searching for a video that shows the attack or a neighbor who saw what happened. But because doorbell camera video is erased often, these efforts are more likely to be successful if we get started sooner rather than later.
Many delivery workers today work for services like DoorDash and Uber Eats and are independent contractors, so a Worker’s Compensation claim is not an option. However, if you work for a company as a W2 employee, you may be able to file a Worker’s Compensation claim for your dog bite if it happened while you were at work.
Worker’s Compensation only pays for medical expenses and two-thirds of your average pay while you are out of work due to on-the-job injuries. In the case of a dog bite, it may also be possible to sue the dog owner for any additional damages that Worker’s Comp does not cover.
Your lawyer will help you figure out your options for pursuing compensation in these complicated situations.
What if You Can’t Find the Dog or Its Owner?
Sometimes, an unaccompanied dog will bite someone in a public place. The attack may come out of nowhere and happen very quickly, and the injured person will usually do their best to get away from the dog as fast as possible.
Later, they may realize they don’t know who owns the dog, if it’s feral, or where it went.
After getting medical attention, you should report a dog bite immediately. In Dekalb County, you can do so by contacting Animal Enforcement.
Animal Enforcement will take a report and search for the dog so it can be quarantined (a measure required in case it shows signs of rabies). Try to provide your best description of the dog and any information you remember about where you last saw it or what direction it was going.
We will follow up with Animal Enforcement to learn if they found the dog and, if so, whether an owner has been identified. If the dog has no tags and no microchip, and no one comes to claim it, the animal may be feral.
In many cases, the dog has a registered owner, and we can file a claim against them because the dog was unleashed.
If the dog has not been found, our investigators will try to find the animal and its owners. We understand that Animal Enforcement is very busy and can only dedicate so much time to searching for the canine, so we will visit the scene, knock on doors, and speak to residents or people working there.
In some cases, we meet other people who have problems with the dog, and one of them may have noticed where it lives or where it spends the most time. As a result, it might be possible to find the dog and identify its owner.
What if You Don’t Want to Sue Your Friend or Neighbor Over a Dog Bite?
We know these situations can be awkward, but we encourage you to speak with a lawyer and learn your options anyway. You are not obligated to sue anyone, but you should think carefully about whether you want to absorb the cost of your medical bills, lost income from missing work, pain and suffering, and, in some cases, even permanent scarring or disability.
In some situations, we may find that the dog owner’s homeowner’s insurance will cover the dog bite, so you might not have to file a lawsuit. If not, we could speak with the dog owner on the injured person’s behalf and work to negotiate an arrangement that covers the client’s damages.
How Can You Get Help From a Dekalb County Dog Bite Law Firm?
If a dog bite or attack has injured you or a loved one, please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for a free consultation. We’ll learn more about your dog bite, discuss your injuries, and review your options for pursuing compensation.
If we take your case, we won’t charge you anything until we win or settle it, so there is no need to worry about upfront costs.
Attorney Ali Awad founded the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm and rapidly transformed it into one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country. With the help of his skilled legal team, he has recovered millions of dollars in compensation for injured people and their families.
He posts no-nonsense legal advice for over a million followers on social media in his spare time. Work with the CEO Lawyer today by calling 833-254-2923.