Different Aspects of Dog Bites Claims

In case someone was actually injured by a dog or another pet of a third party, said third party as well as the property owner, provided they are different people, might be held liable for the physical injuries as well as the psychological trauma of the injured. This is something that you want to take into account.

Now, the provisions which regulate dog bites and the way they are handled in court are contained within the Dog Owner’s Liability Act of Ontario. One of the specific things that you need to take into consideration is that there is a ban on certain breeds, which includes the following:

·         Pit bull terrier

·         American pit bull terrier

·         American Stafford shire terrier

·         Stafford shire bull terrier

·         Dogs with the characteristic and the appearance of pit bull breeds

This ban was implemented in order to decrease the attacks and injuries caused by supposedly vicious dog breeds. The dog bite injuries can range from scratches and bite to severe mauling that can lead to facial disfigurement, loss of fingers, eye injuries and more.

However, a survey conducted back in 2010 showed that despite the ban for more than 5 years already, there was no actual significant decrease in the number of attacks and bites in Ontario as per the National Canine Research Council report.

Strict liability

Now, one of the first things that you need to understand is that the aforementioned piece of legislation sets forth the strict liability. This means that even if the victim attributed and taunted the dog to attack him, the owner would still be liable, even if he wasn’t actually there at the time of the attack. This is something serious to be considered. Even though there is contributory negligence predicated on the premise of contributing for the attack, the dog owner will always be held accountable to a certain extent.

And this is rather controversial, but there is a sound reasoning behind it. The dog owner is responsible for his dog and he should do everything within his reach to ensure that the latter doesn’t attack and cause damages to other people or other animals. Even if he wasn’t there, he should have been and that’s why you need to account for the fact that strict liability might actually have a lot of merit in this particular case.

Injuries and compensation

Of course, if you have been the victim of a dog attack and you have suffered physical or psychological trauma, you need to make sure that you contact a personal injury lawyer with experience in the field right away. This is something particularly important and it needs to be taken into proper consideration. With this in mind, a lawyer is going to ensure that you get the necessary monetary compensation which you are legally entitled to. This is very important and to be considered thoroughly.