It is Advisable to Let An Attorney Take Over When You’ve Been Injured by a Friend’s Dog

Interviewer: What advice would you give me if I was in a situation where I was bitten by a friend’s dog and am very hesitant to pursue this?

Richard Sailer: That may be a situation where you could get an attorney involved and can avoid any direct contact with your friend. Allow the attorney be the middleman in that situation. Let your friend know that you’re stuck with medical bills from the dog bite and that you have a professional involved so we can let the attorney and the insurance company work it out. In that way, it doesn’t have any impact on your friendship.

 

Litigating a Dog Bite Claim Should be Construed by Both Parties as a Business Decision

Interviewer: Do you think litigating a dog bite claim between friends is going to work?

Richard Sailer: Yes.  Sometimes, those are the easiest ones because they understand that it’s just a business decision—it’s between the attorney and the insurance company.  My attorney will deal with your insurance company, let the two of them deal with it and it’s not personal.

 

A Dog Owner Should Do the Right Thing and Contact their Insurance Company to Pay the Claim

Interviewer: Do dog owners usually do the the right thing and admit fault?

Richard Sailer: Yes, you’d be surprised at how many people take responsibility for the dog attack.  However, I’ve had situations even where it’s a family member dog owner or family member victim and sometimes there’s bad blood even between families.  The right thing is for you to contact your insurance company, let them know what happened, and tell them to pay the claim.

 

People May Tend to Train Dogs to be Aggressive for Security Purposes

Interviewer: Have you ever heard or even seen a situation where someone intentionally trains dogs for security purposes?

Richard Sailer: Yes.  I’ve had one situation and that’s where we talked earlier about the criminal prosecution.  It was a gentleman that was having these security dogs that were being used as guard dogs and he was housing them at his residence in the neighborhood. One of them got out and mauled a mailman. They were able to establish that these Rottweilers were actually being used in the course of a security business. In addition, these dogs shouldn’t have been located in a residential neighborhood, and the owner didn’t have the proper permits or the proper endorsements from the city to be able to do that in that particular area. There were multiple violations that the city attorney’s office actually got on top of and proceeded with the prosecution and were successful.