Category: Dog Bites

Things to consider About Dog Owner’s Liability Act

Injury Lawyer

Even though the legislation on the territory of the province of Ontario would usually take a social approach of regulation, the Dog Owner’s Liability Act is one which takes a turn and offers quite stringent stipulation. It was thoroughly enacted back on the 31st of December in 1990 and it hasn’t been changed ever since. This is something that should tell you that the legislation is one that manages to serve the purpose of society and to offer an approach which is permanent and sustainable.

Liability in a dog bite case

However, the liability set forth might be rather questionable to say the least. The truth is that the Dog Owner’s Liability Act sets fort incredibly strict liability. The provisions stipulate that every owner of a dog is responsible for all sorts of damages caused by an attack of their domestic animal to a human or other domestic animal, regardless of the fact whether or not the owner was present at the attack. While the premises are agreeable, the practical side of the matter remains rather questionable and probably a bit ambiguous. Is such strict liability really the right convention and does it truly protects the interests of both sides? There are different hypothesis that could be discussed that would usually exclude the responsibility of the person responsible for the actions of a third party, if we assume that the dog could be considered as such. For instance, the victim could have posed a danger to the animal or to the premises of the owner while the dog itself could have acted upon his instincts of self-preservation or to serve its purposes of a guardian animal.

Contributory negligence

These questions are attempted to be resolved later on in the act as the legislative authority sets out to balance the matter by introducing the institute of contributory negligence. This is a situation which gives right to the owner to claim contribution on behalf of the injured. He will have to prove that he’s the one that caused the attack by posing a threat to the dog, irritating it on purpose or posing general threat to the premises.

However, there are a lot of questions that could have been asked and the answer would remain only within the honest word of the injured. How can one prove that the victim contributed to the attack? Even though the injured could be asked directly, he could instantly call upon his rights against self incrimination and that would render the entire case mute. This is why it might be rather useful to take some things into thorough consideration and to revise some of the provisions which might in fact be questionable. Regardless, the legislation is stable and it seems to fit the demand of the masses. If you or a loved one has been injured by a dog, your lawyer will be able to assist and represent your rights by suing the dog’s owner.

Representing Dog Bite Attack Cases by Personal Injury Lawyer In Brantford

Injury Lawyer

Even though dogs may have the reputation of the man’s best friend, most of the people often tend to forget that they are in fact animals. As a result, sometimes their canine instincts prevail and they attack a person, causing him terrible physical and also severe emotional trauma. A personal injury lawyer in Brantford is going to be able to deal with cases of this particular regard as there are clear legislative regulations set forth to govern misfortunes of this type.

The act in question is called the Dog Owner’s Liability act which was introduced as R.S.O. 1990, CHAPTER D.16 but was later amended 2006, c. 32, Sched. C, s. 13. It sets incredibly strict provisions when it comes to injuries caused by domestic animal attacks. The owner is not only responsible for the injuries that his animal has caused, but he is also responsible if he has no fault for the accident what so ever. This means that even if the pet acted on his own free will, which is of course rather impossible to prove, the owner is going to be liable for the damages that it has caused. The easiest way to determine this is when the owner of the animal wasn’t around at the time of the incident.

This means that leading a case of this kind is very preferable by the majority of Personal Injury Lawyers in Brantford because there is nothing to prove besides the actual fact of the injury. Of course, this is not as simple as it may sound because the damages have to be related to this particular animal. If there are witnesses that could testify to this happening then the situation becomes a bit more clear, but if there are not it’s required to conduct some serious medical investigation. However, once the injury is related to the dog in question, the claimant can address his owner and file monetary compensatory claims for the injuries, medical treatment and other ancillary reasons.

However, the laws allow certain exceptions. There is something which the law refers to as contributory negligence. This is such behavior on behalf of the injured party which in some ways has provoked the attack of the animal. A personal injury lawyer in Brantford should definitely account for this because it limits the responsibility of the owner of the animal to certain extents which requires it to be accounted for.

Furthermore, the assessment is done individually for each particular case on behalf of the court. This is due to the fact that the circumstances are absolutely always going to be different which requires proper and thorough investigation for the sake of enforcing the law as intended. It is the job of the personal injury lawyer in Brantford to formulate the claim but besides that all else lies within the hands of the judges.