Your Friend's Dog Bit Your Child: What to Expect from This Type of Personal Injury Case

One minute your child was playing with your best friend's dog but then the dog attacked. Though you and your friend stopped the attack from being deadly, your child's face is injured and they are traumatized. Thankfully, personal injury lawsuits can help here.

Dog Bites Can Seriously Affect a Child's Face

When a child is attacked by a dog and bit on the face, the results can be devastating. Even a single firm bite can break through the skin, including through the cheeks and the lips, and cause damage that may leave permanent scarring. More intensive damage may occur if the attack continues and worsens as the dog keeps attacking the child.

For example, the child may lose significant skin on their face, enough to require a skin graft. And while these grafts provide the child with new skin, the scars of the graft may be obvious and may make a child feel self-conscious. Thankfully, liability in these types of cases typically falls very strictly on the owner of the dog.

For example, most states claim that the dog owner is liable if a person was lawfully on the dog owner's property at the time of the attack and if the dog attacked without provocation. Your child playing with a dog during a visit is not trespassing or provocative, so you should be able to win a personal injury lawsuit.

Defenses to Expect

During this type of personal injury lawsuit, the person who was once your friend may create defenses to avoid having to pay your child's medical expenses. For example, the defendant may claim that your child was being mean to the dog or provoking it, which caused the dog to attack without any kind of warning.

This type of defense requires eye-witness testimony at the time of the attack. If witnesses claim that the child was provoking the dog beyond reason, your former friend may have a solid defense. However, the defense also has to show that they took steps to address your child and warn them about the dog. If they did not, their case is nowhere near as strong.

As you can see, this type of case can not only affect a child's physical and mental health but cause an inseparable rift between friends. However, your child deserves compensation for their injuries, so don't hesitate to contact a professional personal injury attorney like those at Nelson Fromer & Crocco Law Offices to get the money that you deserve.