Man’s best friend or not, an out-of-control dog can do serious damage to any other pet or human being that it sees as a threat, especially if the person it’s targeting is especially old or especially young. Fortunately, New Jersey law is fairly generous in terms of the rights it gives dog bite victims to file suit over the injuries they’ve sustained and demand civil compensation from the owner of the dog who bit them.
Unfortunately, enforcing those rights can be trickier in practice than you might expect, particularly if you try to do it without a winning personal injury attorney on your side. By hiring and working closely with a skilled Mt Laurel dog bite lawyer, you give yourself the best possible chance of getting paid what you deserve without putting too much additional stress on yourself or your family.
What Does It Mean to Be Strictly Liable for a Dog Bite?
Most of the time, holding someone legally and financially liable for an injury requires proving they were negligent in some way. This means you have to prove the person you’re suing caused your injury by doing something specifically reckless or careless that violated a duty of care they owed you.
However, if you’re injured specifically through someone else’s dog biting you, you’re allowed to hold the owner strictly liable for your injuries. As your Mt Laurel dog attack attorney can further explain, that means you don’t need to prove the owner was reckless or careless in any specific way, just that they’re the legal owner of the dog that bit you and that the injuries came mainly and directly from that bite.
Exceptions to the Strict Liability Rule
There are a few situations where a dog owner in the Garden State might not be strictly liable for an injury caused by their dog. The strict liability rule doesn’t apply to injuries that a dog causes by doing something other than biting you. For instance, if you get hurt because someone else’s dog jumps on you and knocks you over, a lawyer in Mt Laurel can still help you sue the dog’s owner for traditional negligence, but you can’t hold them strictly liable for the injury.
In addition, you can only hold dog owners strictly liable for bite injuries that happen in a place that you were legally allowed to be. If you get bitten while you were illegally trespassing on someone else’s property, you might not have grounds for a claim. If you’re found partially at fault for causing your own injury because you did something like tease or provoke a dog into attacking you, you may miss out on some or all the compensation you’d otherwise have been able to receive.
Get Help from a Mt Laurel Dog Bite Attorney
Being attacked by a dog can be a uniquely frightening and potentially life-changing experience, no matter how or why it happens. In the aftermath of an attack like this, you may have strong grounds to file a lawsuit over your injuries and seek compensation for the negative effects those injuries will have on your life.
If you want to pursue your claim as effectively and efficiently as possible, you need support from a Mt Laurel dog bite lawyer who is well-known for winning cases like this in the past. Call today to discuss your legal options.
