Oregon Dog Bite Attorney

Not exactly. In cases where a dog with no history of aggressiveness bites someone in a public location, we look to the animal control laws of the county and city where the animal bite occurred.

That depends on many factors including whether the dog has a history of aggressive conduct, whether the owner was aware the dog had a history, where the attack occurred, and your resulting injuries. Any competent dog bite attorney will want to discuss the dog attack, the animal owner, and your injury before presenting your legal options.  Call for a free case evaluation.

That really depends on the severity of the injuries caused, where the animal attack occurred, and whether the owner and their insurance company want to be fair. Some personal injury cases can resolve in six months while others can take two years.

Make sure you report the case to animal control in your county. Sometimes the hospital staff will do this. Nonetheless, you should call and make sure the case was reported. It is important for your potential dog bite lawsuit, but it is also important that animal control deal with the dog especially if there is a serious injury. It is also important that they file the case so that if the dog bites again, the second victim can find out the dog’s history and hold the owner strictly liable. The prior report will show the owner's knowledge of their dog's former viciousness.

Sometimes you can get bills paid through the “med-pay” portion of the dog owner’s homeowner’s policy even before the case resolves. Usually, no legal action is necessary to make this happen.  Get in touch for a free case evaluation to discuss how we can protect you.

I have taken a case to trial and received over $300,000 where the only permanent injury was scarring. Fortunately, most dog bites do not result in severe injuries.  Nonetheless, we are happy to discuss your injuries and legal rights.  If the injury seems too small to warrant our involvement, we refer such cases to other lawyers who may be willing to help.

Mr. Stavley handles cases throughout Oregon and Washington.  If the dog bite occurred in another state he is happy to discuss your options.  

Yes.  A high percentage of all animal attacks involve child victims.  There are factual and legal challenges to representing a child in a personal injury case.  Factually, sometimes when a child is a victim of a dog attack, they may not be able to explain what happened.  Legally, there are a few things we must do before resolving a case.  This includes setting up a conservatorship and getting court approval of any settlement.  

Yes.  You are the person who decides how your case is resolved.  Dog bite lawyers normally deal with the homeowner's insurance company for the dog owners.   The insurance policy will have coverage limits.  If the dog bite injuries are severe enough that the policy might not be enough, you would decide how you want to proceed.  In other words, if the dog owner does not have enough insurance to cover the severity of the injuries from the dog bite attack, then the victim decides whether to refuse the policy limits offer and proceed to trial to try to get additional money from the owner.  

My experience is that most dog owners I see don't have significant money outside of their insurance policy.  So victims of dog bites usually do not want to proceed beyond the insurance policy because it is not worth their time, especially when there is some risk involved in a trial.  

Yes.  As I mentioned in the previous question, the decision on how you proceed is yours to make.  Dog attacks are generally covered by the dog owner's homeowner's insurance or renters insurance policy.  Insurance companies will generally negotiate claims without the need to file a dog bite lawsuit or go to trial, but they can be stingy.  

You need to understand that sometimes the only way to force a good offer is to file a lawsuit and prepare for trial.  And you still might not get a good offer.  In that case, any good dog bite lawyer will recommend going to trial.  

The first thing we do when we get a new animal attack case is collect evidence.  We start with the police reports and animal control reports.  We want to see what investigation was done.  If there are witnesses, we want to see their interviews.  If they weren't interviewed, we send our investigators to interview them.  Dog bites are sometimes captured on video.  We try to find any video that might be available.  Our investigator interviews neighbors to learn if they know anything about prior dog bites or victims of dog attacks.  

Most dogs have periodic veterinary appointments.  We gather those records.  Sometimes veterinary records indicate that the owner is aware their dog is aggressive.  If the owner fails to take any precautions after having that information, that can add value to the case.  

We obviously need to establish our injury case too, so we order medical records and speak with doctors and experts if necessary.  

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There can be several reasons why a dog bite lawyer may not want your case.  

First, they might not understand that these cases can be strict liability cases if the dog has an aggressive history.  

Second, the injuries caused in the attack may be minor, and therefore the case value might not be enough to justify the lawyer's time.  

Lastly, the lawyer may believe there will be no coverage.  For instance, if the dog owner is a renter, they may not have renter's insurance. In such cases, there is often no insurance policy or money to collect.  Also, sometimes the lawyers don't understand the case.  

First, the victims of dog bites are often children.  In those cases, I frequently see bites to the face that can cause significant wounds and scarring.  I have handled cases for adults where some or all of the injuries are the result of falls trying to get away from the dogs or trying to protect children from dogs.  Those injuries have included nerve damage, ligament tears, bite wounds, and infections.  We have a long history of making sure owners are held liable when their animal attacks.

It is not necessary that your injuries are due to a bite.  I have handled cases where a dog knocked over a person jogging in a park, and another where a dog ran into a person on their bicycle causing them to crash.  

In 2015 I tried a case to a jury in Multnomah County where a represented a person who was chased by a dog and fell off a retaining wall trying to get away.  The dog never touched her.  The owner was held responsible by the jury and the verdict was the largest dog bite verdict ever reported in Oregon. It is with noting that we took that case after the client was fired by another law firm who said the case was not winnable.  The client was left looking for a new lawyer and was rejected by another law firm before we took the case.