Alabama is a dog-friendly state. Not all of those dogs are friendly, however, and Birmingham in particular records a high annual number of dog bite attacks.
Injured bite victims should contact Massey Injury Law to consult with a Birmingham dog bite lawyer about recovering compensation for injuries and financial losses associated with the bite. Contacting an experienced personal injury attorney promptly after a dog attack is critical, even if you know the owner or your injuries appear to be insignificant. We can analyze how and why the attack happened and evaluate your rights and opportunity to get reimbursement for your financial losses, property damage, and pain and suffering. Our friend-of-the-firm rate ensures you keep more for your medical bills and losses.
If a dog bite causes scratches, skin tears, or any kind of bleeding, you should seek immediate medical care regardless of whether the dog has all of its shots. Dog bites can cause deep wounds that are easily infected, and medical treatment can prevent complications. You or your insurer will be responsible for paying the costs of that medical care, and a dog bite attorney in Birmingham can pursue reimbursement of those costs on your behalf.
Your lawyer can also negotiate with liability insurers to reimburse your other economic losses, such as unearned salary while you recuperate from wounds and therapy expenses that you might incur to help you heal. Last, your attorney can fight for non-economic damages like compensation for your pain and suffering and the psychological trauma you experienced from the attack.
If you try to pursue compensation without legal help, insurance company adjusters will try to pin responsibility for the attack on you, for example, by arguing that you goaded the dog into attacking you. Under Alabama’s strict comparative negligence standards, you will lose your right to recover damages if you were even slightly at fault. Our experienced lawyer will fight to protect you from that outcome.
In most dog bite injury cases, the dog’s owner or handler will be primarily responsible for paying for your harm and losses. A knowledgeable Birmingham lawyer will also evaluate the potential liability of property owners or landlords who let the dog onto their premises, particularly if the dog has a known propensity to initiate attacks.
Alabama Code § 3-1-6 imposes liability for dog bite injuries on an owner when, without being provoked, a dog attacks someone who is legally allowed to be on the owner’s property. If the dog has no prior history of attacks, the owner may not be automatically liable. In this case, your dog bite attorney in Birmingham will use the facts of the case to show that the owner was negligent, notwithstanding the dog’s prior clean history.
Dog attacks can cause a wide range of harm, from minor scrapes to injuries that take months to heal. A dog’s teeth can puncture skin, tear muscle, and, in a forceful attack, break bone. You will likely need immediate wound cleaning, stitches, or surgery to repair damaged tissue, and your doctor will often prescribe antibiotics to guard against infection, since bacteria in a dog’s mouth can spread quickly beneath the skin, even in a wound that looks minor at first. If the dog’s vaccination history is unclear, your doctor will often start a series of rabies shots as a precaution.
Beyond the initial wound, dog bite victims in Birmingham commonly deal with the following:
These injuries can affect you long after the wound itself has healed. A child who suffers a facial bite, for example, can need multiple reconstructive surgeries as they grow, and an adult who loses full use of a hand can face a real drop in earning capacity. Physical therapy, follow-up surgeries, and time away from work or childcare can add up fast, and those costs don’t always show up until months after the attack. Our experienced legal team works with your doctors to understand the full scope of your injuries, so any settlement or verdict we pursue accounts for the medical bills you have already paid and the care you will still need. We also keep you updated at every step, from the records we gather to the claim we prepare, so you always know where your case stands.
Birmingham has its own local rules for how dog owners must keep and control their pets, on top of Alabama’s state dog bite law. These rules generally require owners to leash their dog, keep it inside a secure fence, or otherwise keep it under control in public and around neighbors. When we build your case, we check whether the owner followed these local rules, because a clear violation can make it easier to show the owner didn’t act responsibly.
If animal control or local health officials investigate the bite, they will often observe the dog for a short period to rule out rabies and document what happened. Those records, along with any citation issued to the owner, can become strong evidence in your claim. We also gather photos of the scene, statements from anyone who saw the attack, and the dog’s history with animal control, since a prior complaint can go a long way toward proving the owner knew the dog was dangerous. As your dog bite attorney in Birmingham, Massey Injury Law will track down this paperwork on your behalf and use it to hold the responsible party accountable, so you don’t have to chase down reports while you’re trying to heal. We keep every client informed in plain language, whether you’re more comfortable speaking with us in English or Spanish.
Call Massey Injury Law for a complimentary, no-obligation consultation with a Birmingham dog bite lawyer. We will review the facts of the attack and assess the compensation that you may be able to recover from all parties who may be liable for your injuries.
Under Alabama Code § 6-2-38, you only have two years from the date of your accident to file a dog bite personal injury lawsuit. Contact us well before the expiration of that period to enable us to secure evidence of the attack and your injuries and to give you the best opportunity to recover the compensation you deserve. For a friend of the firm experience and rate, remember: Massey is my lawyer friend.
(706) 395-9160