If You Were Attacked by a Dog in Scranton, Get a Free Case Review at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys
The City of Scranton has strict dog laws in place, such as leash laws that prevent owners and handlers from allowing the pet to run free and unsupervised.
While these laws help cut down on the number of dog bite incidents that occur in the area, every year, countless residents — often children or seniors — suffer serious injuries in dog bite attacks.
A dog bite injury lawyer in Scranton at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys can evaluate your situation and help you understand if you have a strong enough case to hold the dog owner or handler liable for your medical bills and other damages. We offer complimentary consultations to dog bite victims and will handle your case on a contingency basis. This means you do not pay us a dime unless we recover compensation for you. This allows you to focus on what is important: recovering from your injuries.
Call us today at [phone-number] to talk to a member of our Scranton dog bite injury team for free.
Recoverable Damages in a Scranton Dog Bite Injuries Case
Dog bite victims often suffer physical scarring and emotional trauma from the incident. They might require ongoing treatment to help heal their wounds, and counseling to ease their fears. When we handle a dog bite injury claim, we are careful to consider not only your physical wounds but your emotional needs as well.
Some of the most common damages we can recover for our clients after a Scranton dog bite incident include:
● Medical care costs
● Physical therapy and rehabilitation
● Future care costs, such as necessary plastic surgery to reduce scarring
● Lost wages, for time missed at work
● Lost earning capacity, if your injuries require you to work fewer hours or retire from the workforce
● Cognitive and emotional therapy
● Pain and suffering
● Manifestation of anxiety disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder
Even when injuries seem relatively minor, it is important to get the help you need immediately. Dog bite wounds can become infected quickly, and this will just mean more medical bills and treatment costs.
Pennsylvania Dog Bite Law
Just being bitten by a dog does not entitle you to recover compensation from the owner. To recover these damages, we must prove the dog's owner or handler acted negligently. This is possible by proving:
● The owner allowed the dog to bite you or failed to prevent the attack by ignoring state or local laws.
● The owner otherwise acted negligently and failed to prevent the incident from occurring.
Often, we can hold the owner responsible for your injuries and damages if he did not have control of his dog at the time of the attack. This violates local and state leash laws that require the animal be under the owner's control at all times.
What We Must Do to Recover Compensation in a Scranton Dog Bite Injuries Case
We can help you recover the compensation you deserve after a Scranton dog bite injury. We have the resources and experience necessary to win these cases and will fight for a payout for the full value of your losses. As part of helping you navigate this process, we will:
Prove the Owner Acted Negligently
We will conduct a full investigation into what happened during the attack and uncover how the owner could have prevented it. Most commonly, we find dog owners acted negligently by violating state and local leash laws that require them to keep their dogs under control at all times. Violation of this law means:
● The dog was not on a leash; or
● The dog was not in a secure area on its own property; or
● The dog was otherwise not under “reasonable” control (e.g., verbal control) at the time of the attack.
While there are many other ways a dog owner can act negligently, this is the most frequent kind of negligence we encounter in the cases we handle. To prove this leash law violation was an act of negligence, we must show there is no valid explanation for the violation and that the bite injuries occurred as a result of the violation.
File an Insurance Claim
We can often settle dog bite injury cases without needing to file a lawsuit. We may be able to file an insurance claim based on the negligent party's homeowner's or renter's insurance policy and recover damages. Once we finish our investigation and understand how the owner's negligence caused the dog bite incident, we can send his insurance company a demand letter.
This letter outlines our case against the dog owner and demands fair compensation for your medical care, lost wages, and pain and suffering. This may prompt the insurer to begin settlement negotiations, where our team can aggressively pursue a fair settlement on your behalf.
File a Lawsuit Against the Dog Owner
If the dog owner does not have applicable insurance coverage, or if his insurance company refuses to offer a fair settlement, our only option to hold him accountable for his negligent actions is to file a lawsuit in civil court. We are not afraid to litigate your case, presenting evidence of negligence to the judge and asking for an award that takes your full range of losses and expenses into account.
In general, we have two years from the date of the dog bite incident to file a lawsuit or the court will likely bar our attempt to collect compensation. If your minor child suffered the injuries, you likely have a longer period of time to pursue a claim.
Talk to a Dog Bite Injuries Lawyer in Scranton About Your Case
The team from Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys offers free case evaluations and never charges our clients anything until we recover compensation on their behalf. To learn more about whether you might have a valid dog bite injury case, call us today at [phone-number] for your complimentary consultation with an attorney in Scranton.
Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys
227 Penn Ave.
Scranton, PA 18503
(570)865-4699
