Dog Bite Injury Attorneys Mercer County, NJ
The first and most important thing you should do if you or your child is bitten by a dog is to seek immediate medical attention
While dogs can be “man’s best friend”, they can also attack, often without obvious provocation or warning. Perhaps surprisingly, dogs bite almost 4.5 million Americans every year, often resulting in serious injury and the need for intensive medical treatment.
If you or a child is injured due to a dog attack or dog bite, the medical expenses for treating those injuries can mount quickly, so it is important for your family’s financial stability that your recover compensation for those expenses. Luckily, New Jersey law allows victims of dog bites and attacks to seek compensation through insurance policies, so you do not have to worry about leaving a neighbor scrambling for money in order to pay your own expenses.
At The Law Office of Cohen & Riechelson, our attorneys have extensive experience helping clients across Hamilton, Trenton, Princeton, Lawrence, and the greater Mercer County area to recover compensation in personal injury and workers’ compensation claims. If you or a loved one has suffered an injury due to a dog bite or dog attack, contact our firm to discuss your options for compensation in a free and confidential consultation.
What Should I Do if a Dog Bit Me or My Child? Trenton, NJ Dog Bite Lawyers
The first and most important thing you should do if you or your child is bitten by a dog is to seek immediate medical attention. Especially for children, whose smaller size makes them even more vulnerable to dog attack injuries, seeking immediate medical attention can help prevent long-term medical complications such as infections, scarring, and disease.
After speaking with a medical professional, you may also wish to speak with an experienced Mercer County dog bite attorney. The greater the expense the medical treatment you require becomes, the more urgent it becomes to seek compensation for those expenses.
Dog bite injuries can often result in:
- Wounds and scars which require extensive treatment
- Disfigurement
- Broken bones
- Infections to many different parts of the body due to the bacteria contained in a dog’s mouth
- Diseases such as rabies which affect the brain and central nervous system
Considering the potential medical issues a dog bite can cause, and the expense associated with their treatment, having an experienced dog bite attorney to help you recover compensation can be of enormous benefit.
Recovering Compensation for Dog Bite Injuries in Mercer County
Dog bite injury claims are considered a type of premises liability claim in New Jersey, meaning the owner of the property, and their insurance provider, are responsible for injuries which occur on that property. Additionally, dog bite claims operate on a strict liability basis, meaning no fault needs to be proven by the victim in order for them to recover compensation.
However, there are two potential complications in any dog bite injury claim. The first is the question of the legal presence of the victim on the property where the dog bite occurred. If the dog bite occurred on public property, it can be fairly straightforward to recover compensation from that property’s insurance policy. If the dog bite occurred on private property, the victim will need to prove that they were invited onto that property, and were not trespassing on that property when the dog bite occurred.
The second complication is that of fault. While we already noted that the victim does not need to prove fault in order to recover compensation, it may be possible for the property owner to prove that the dog bite victim antagonized the dog, or behaved in such a manner that caused the dog to attack, and thus damage their dog bite injury claim. Having an experienced Mercer County dog bite attorney during this process can be critical, as they will be able to contest false or misleading evidence presented against you in an effective and legally informed manner.
Who is Liable for my Trenton, NJ Dog Bite?
If the dog bite occurred on public property, the premises liability insurance provider of that property would be responsible for compensating your damages. If the dog bite occurred on private property like a home or residence, you would seek compensation from the property owner’s homeowner’s insurance provider. This allows you to seek the compensation you need and deserve even when the dog bite occurred on a neighbor or friend’s property, without worrying about any expense to your neighbor or friend.
However, it is important to remember that insurance companies are for-profit businesses, and as such recovering full and fair compensation from them is not always an easy process. For this reason especially, having an experienced Trenton, NJ dog bite attorney can be of immense benefit to you, as your attorney will be familiar with negotiating with insurance companies, and the various methods they use to reduce their compensation responsibilities.
Contact Our Mercer County Dog Bite Attorneys Today
At Cohen & Riechelson, our firm has been recovering compensation for clients across Trenton, Princeton, Hamilton, Lawrence, and the greater Mercer County area since 1972. This wealth of experience has helped us to hone our craft of providing effective, knowledgeable, and attentive legal service to each of our clients, and we are ready to put our experience to work for you today.
If you or your child has been injured by a dog bite or dog attack, our attorneys are ready to thoroughly investigate your case, help you through the entire legal process, and ensure that you recover the compensation you need and deserve.
To speak with our firm today in a free and confidential consultation regarding your options for compensation after a dog bite, please contact us online, or through our Hamilton, NJ office at (609) 528-2596.