Dog Bit Your Child At Their Friend's House? What You Can Do About It

If your child was at a friend's house and their friend's dog bit your child, you may find yourself suing the parents for personal injury. This does depend on how badly your child was injured, however. For example, if the injury was small and could be treated at home you should not sue. If your child was badly injured, below is some information about what you should do.

Personal Injury Claim

Take pictures from different angles of your child where they are injured so you have proof of the dog bite. If your child was badly injured and requires a visit to the doctor or hospital, this results in medical bills. These bills could be extremely high if your child has to stay in the hospital for treatment.

Once they are under a doctor's care you should contact a personal injury lawyer even from the hospital, if needed. They will come see you immediately to start your personal injury claim. It is best to contact a lawyer that has experience working with dog bite cases. The doctor should put in their notes that the injury they treated was due to an animal bite.

The attorney will ask you exactly what happened, such as what was your child doing when the animal bit them. You should provide the attorney with the name, address, and phone number of the dog owner. If there were any witnesses at the home, such as another friend, the attorney will need this information also.

Liability of the Owner

The attorney will determine if the parent owns the dog that bit your child. Before you can sue them, they have to be the dog owner. For example, if they were watching someone else's dog they may not be liable. The owner is liable for the dog bite even if they were not in the same room when it happened. Even if the dog had never bitten anyone before and it was not known that they were dangerous, they are still liable.

There can be the question of the type of dog the owner has, as some dogs are known to be more dangerous than others. For example, if the owner has a pit bull it may be thought that the owner should have known it was dangerous because pit bills are thought to be harmful.

A personal injury attorney like Hornthal Riley Ellis & Maland LLP can go this information with you in much more detail.