Animal Bite Lawyer Referral Service
Personal injury by definition means that there has been an injury to the mind, emotions or body; thus dog bite cases fit into the personal injury law category. Proving negligence is critical so finding a good lawyer is essential.
Dog bites happen most often because of the negligence of the owner of the dog. Most communities have leash laws and it is implied in the law that the owner has to have direct or indirect control of the dog at all times. If the dog is off leash then the owner should be able to control the dog in another way. Properly trained dogs will sit and stay either by voice or hand commands as improper training of the dog often leads to the dog being uncontrollable. Allowing repeated offenses, such as the dog escaping from a fenced in yard is clearly negligent.
Strict liability is on the owner of the dog. Often because of the owner’s negligence, the dog will be taken away to be quarantined or in some cases to be euthanized. It is imperative that dogs be licensed in the community that they live in and their vaccinations are kept up to date. The fear of rabies is one good reason to make sure the dog is licensed and up to date on all shots that are required.
A variety of lawyer referral services can assist in recommending local personal injury lawyers to assist clients as they prepare to bring lawsuit against the owner of the animal. A lawyer referral service in Los Angeles for example will show you how to locate a good Los Angeles dog bite lawyer to help in the dog bites case. The guardian of a minor or the person who is bitten will be the one meeting with the personal injury lawyer.
Finding a personal injury lawyer who has experience with negligence cases can be originated best through a referral services. Once you receive a name and phone number, it is important to meet face to face with the attorney, negotiate an hourly rate and obtain a written retainer agreement. Civil and criminal charges can be filed if the owner is aware of the dog biting previously. Once the owner becomes aware of previous infractions, they are strictly liable for the incident.
Some home owners, business and renters insurance will cover dog bites so it will be important for the owner of the dog to report the bite to their insurance company. Good lawyers educated in personal injury can help with this sometimes confusing process. If you are the person who has been bitten by the dog, go to your medical provider and get evaluated for any injuries that you have incurred.
Oreo, a pit bull mix, was hailed as a miracle dog when she survived being hurled off a Brooklyn rooftop last summer. She had two broken legs and a broken rib.Her owner was arrested on cruelty charges, and Oreo, a dark brown dog with white paws and forelegs and a white stripe down her forehead, was nursed back to health. Dozens of people expressed interest in adopting her.
They will not get the chance. After overseeing her recovery, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has decided she has to be put to death. Oreo will be euthanized on Friday, according to the society’s president and chief executive, Ed Sayres.
Oreo was almost impossible to control once her injuries healed, he said. Other officials from the society said Oreo had shown extreme aggressiveness during several behavioral examinations: growling, lunging and trying to bite people who came too close.
Mr. Sayres called it a “most difficult and heartbreaking decision” but added that Oreo “is not able to do any of the companion things” a normal dog does. A specialist who had rated Oreo’s behavioral prognosis as poor in July downgraded it last month to grave " despite two months of daily sessions with a therapy team. A video of part of an October examination showed Oreo straining against her leash as if she wanted to charge another dog that passed by.
Later in the video, Oreo bared her teeth at the camera and looked as if she was ready to attack.
Oreo survived her plunge on June 18 from 28 West Ninth Street, a six-story apartment building in the Red Hook Houses complex. Several people called 911, and dispatchers sent agents from the society’s humane law enforcement department to investigate, said Stacy Wolf, the vice president and chief legal counsel of the humane law enforcement department.
The agents took Oreo for treatment and, when no one came forward as her owner, returned to the complex to find out who owned Oreo, Ms. Wolf said. On July 30, the authorities arrested Fabian Henderson, 19, a resident of the Red Hook Houses. He pleaded guilty in State Supreme Court last month to a felony charge and will be sentenced on Dec. 1.
The society never considered putting Oreo up for adoption in the conventional sense, to an ordinary household. She was a candidate for a “long-term resident facility,” a sanctuary where the society sends dogs it believes need more careful handling. Mr. Sayres said Oreo would have had to live out her life in seclusion, away from the other dogs and from people.
“Her quality of life would have been reduced to virtually nothing,” he said.
But some animal-care specialists questioned the decision to euthanize her. “The dog is a victim of cruelty,” said Nathan Winograd, a former director of operations for the San Francisco S.P.C.A., who has helped set up no-kill programs around the country. “It’s incredibly traumatized. It’s going to be fearful and distrustful and perhaps even in pain. Under those circumstances, even evaluating the dog right now is setting the dog up for failure.”
He said the society should find “a skilled long-term foster care situation” and let Oreo go through “a rehabilitative process where the dog learns to trust people again, and then re-evaluate the dog.”
“That takes time,” he said.
Mr. Sayres said the society had not reached the decision about Oreo lightly " it even called in an outside veterinary behaviorist, E’Lise Christensen, for a consultation. She said that Oreo had “exhibited intense aggressive behaviors” during the evaluation, biting a fake hand that was dangled in front of her.
Among other things, she wrote, “Oreo should not have any access to the public or uncontrolled areas outdoors. Oreo shouldn’t be around children.”
Mr. Sayres said the society had evaluated dogs taken from Michael Vick, the football quarterback who served 18 months in federal prison for his role in a dogfighting ring. He said that fighting dogs normally have to be euthanized, but that 49 of the 50 Vick dogs “were immediately adoptable.”
“There are no prejudgments,” he said in an interview. “We look at the actual behavior.”
Society officials said a major factor in their decision to put Oreo to death was that she was unpredictable " so unpredictable that she even attacked her handler, someone she saw regularly. Oreo had to be kept in relative isolation for the safety of society employees and other dogs at the society’s headquarters at 424 East 92nd Street, between First and York Avenues.
“Oreo’s aggression is triggered by, basically, everything,” Mr. Sayres said.
