Dog Bite Lawyer in Bakersfield, CA

Bakersfield Dog Bite Attorney

A Brief Summary of the Following Article

• Liability: In California, the “one-bite rule” holds dog owners responsible for injuries from dog bites, regardless of the dog’s prior behavior or bite location. Owners must prevent their dogs from harming others or risk liability for bite-related accidents.
• Statute of Limitations: Victims of dog bites in California have up to two years to file a claim. Delaying beyond this period may weaken the case due to loss of evidence potency. 
• Burden of Proof: To succeed in a dog bite claim, victims must prove that their losses, such as medical expenses or emotional distress, resulted from the dog’s violence. This involves showing how the dog owner’s negligence breached the duty of care owed to the victim.
• Compensation: Damages in dog bite cases encompass both economic and non-economic losses, including long-term medical care, pain management, and psychological impacts like PTSD. Setareh Law assists in gathering evidence to justify these claims for compensation.

California’s dog owners have an implicit responsibility to keep the people around them safe when they take their dogs out in public. Owners who can’t stay in control of their dogs can cause dangerous accidents and harmful injuries. 

If you fall victim to a dog bite accident, get in touch with a Bakersfield dog bite lawyer. Our legal team at Setareh Law can help you recover financial compensation based on your losses. You can contact a dog bite attorney today to book a free dog bite case evaluation.

Your Right to Hold Dog Owners Legally Accountable for a Dog Bite

California operates on a strict one-bite rule. According to this one-bite rule, dog owners must assume immediate responsibility for injuries sustained in a dog bite accident regardless of whether or not that dog has previously displayed violent behavior. It also does not matter whether or not the bite occurs in a public or private location.

This means that owners must take actionable steps to prevent other people from coming into contact with their dogs if those dogs appear physically uncomfortable or dangerous. Even if a dog does not appear actively distressed, dog owners must keep an eye on their pets to prevent accidents or otherwise risk assuming liability for bite-related accidents. 

When to File a Dog Bite Claim

If you walk away from an encounter with a dog contending with bite-related injuries, you have until your case’s statute of limitations expires to take legal action against the dog’s owner. California allows you to take up to two years to investigate your losses.

You cannot file a dog bite claim after your case’s statute of limitations expires. The statute of limitations works to keep the case you bring forward as temporally relevant as possible. The longer you wait to bring your case forward, the more likely it is that the evidence that builds your case may lose its potency. If you feel like you’re running out of time to file a dog bite claim, our dog bite lawyers at Setareh Law can submit your claim before your statute of limitations expires. 

How to Prove Your Right to File a Dog Bite Claim

While California’s one-bite rule does inherently assign liability for a dog bite to the dog’s owner, you still have an obligation to meet California’s burden of proof if you want to move a personal injury claim forward. You must specifically indicate that your losses, including medical bills related to your injury or emotional distress, stem from a dog’s unpredictable violence.

You must then elaborate on the duty of care that was owed to you and the ways in which the dog’s owner violated that duty. Fortunately, you don’t have to do this leg work alone. The Bakersfield dog bite attorneys at Setareh Law can help you bring together the information you need to build your case. 

How to Calculate Dog Bite Damages

The evidence you find at the scene of an accident does more than help prove your right to a case. That evidence is needed if you want to demand fair compensation from the party responsible for your accident. If you can’t defend your right to certain forms of compensation, you may not receive the compensation you deserve.

Our team of dog bite lawyers can gather the evidence necessary to prove your right to certain forms of compensation, both economic and non-economic in nature. For example, we can use reduced pay stubs to argue that a liable party should compensate you for lost wages. We can also use case precedent to argue that you deserve compensation for emotional distress or pain and suffering.

The other losses we may have the right to integrate into your dog bite claim can include the following: 

• Long-term medical care
• Pain management
• Lost opportunities to return to work
• Property damage and repair or replacement
• Post-traumatic stress disorder

You can work with our team of dog bite attorneys to determine which losses to integrate into your claim today.

Setareh Law Fights for Dog Bite Victims Like You

Are you recovering from a dog bite? Our dog bite lawyers can help you demand financial support from a liable owner so that you get the care and compensation you deserve. 

Let the dog bite attoreny with Setareh Law help you build your case today. We offer survivors like you free case evaluations. You can contact us by calling (310) 659-1826 or reaching out through our contact form to book your case consultation today. We also speak Spanish.