California follows a rigorous standard of liability when it comes to dog bite incidents. If a dog bites and injures someone, the owner can be held liable for the victim’s injuries, even if the dog never showed signs of aggression previously.
If you or a family member were recently bitten by a dog at someone’s home or a public place and suffered injuries, it may be prudent to discuss your case with a Corona dog bite lawyer. An experienced injury attorney with a wealth of legal resources and in-depth knowledge of the state’s dog bite laws could honestly assess your claim and eligibility for compensation.
According to California Civil Code § 3342, when a dog bites and injures someone, and the victim was legally on the person’s property or property that was open to the public, the dog owner would be considered responsible for the victim’s damages. Some states require that a higher standard be met to assign liability to the owner or have a one-bite rule that essentially allows dog owners one incident before they can be held liable for someone’s injuries.
California follows the legal doctrine of strict liability, which makes an owner liable for injuries their dog inflicts regardless of whether they knew that the dog had vicious tendencies. An experienced Corona attorney could help someone injured in a dog bite incident pursue a claim for damages against the dog owner.
Dog bite victims have a relatively limited duration of time in which to get their lawsuit filed with the civil courts in California. If someone waits and misses this deadline, they would miss out on monetary recovery as well. The law allows someone who has been injured in a dog bite incident up to two years from the injury to pursue a civil claim for compensation.
Only in minimal circumstances can the statute of limitations be paused or delayed. If the dog owner exits the state before a lawsuit can be filed against them, the statutory deadline could be extended. Another example of a situation where the statutory period may toll is when the victim is a minor child. If a minor child is bitten and injured by a dog, they would have until they turned 20 years old to file a civil lawsuit.
One topic that could arise amid filing a dog bite claim is the idea of shared negligence. Sometimes, the dog owner may try to pin some of the blame for what happened on the victim. For instance, the dog owner might admit that their animal bit the claimant but assert that the claimant provoked the dog’s aggression.
If the court decides that the injured person was indeed partially to blame for what happened, they can reduce the individual’s compensation accordingly. If, for example, the claimant is determined to bear 15 percent of the legal blame for their dog bite injuries, the court can reduce their damages by 15 percent. A dog bite lawyer in Corona could help someone fight back against claims of shared negligence and fight tirelessly to get them all available forms of compensation.
A Corona dog bite lawyer could give your case the attention it deserves and work hard to shield your interests every step of the way. To find out more about what aggressive legal representation could do for your case, contact the office today and schedule your confidential consultation.
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