Ylla|Gosney Attorneys at Law in Tulsa holds dog owners accountable when children suffer serious dog bites. We represent child victims and make sure they receive full support to pay for the best medical care available after a frightening dog attack. Children should also receive support for the emotional trauma they have been put through. Our skilled Tulsa attorneys provide free, no-obligation case consultations to victims and their families. Contact us today to find out what you should be demanding for your child.
Child Dog Bite Dangers in Tulsa
Children need our focus and protection at all times. With their smaller, more vulnerable bodies, they can suffer more harm in any accident, especially a dog bite. Unfortunately, children aren’t as concerned with their own safety and don’t have the judgment to avoid dangerous situations with animals.
They can be curious about a pet and approach a frightened or aggressive dog, perhaps at a birthday party or in a family member’s backyard. A devastating bite can result. Bites might go deeper into a child’s arm to fracture bones, tear ligaments and tendons, and cause infection.
A dog on the loose at a park like Turner Park may be able to reach more vital parts of a child’s body since the child will be closer to the ground. A dog can grab a young person’s neck or bite the face and eyes to cause a traumatic injury.
Your Tulsa dog bite attorney is a safeguard for your child after such an awful experience. Your lawyer would fully investigate your case and collect all evidence and witness testimony available. Your lawyer would make sure your child earned enough in support to pay all hospital bills and to get help recovering emotionally. Your lawyer would handle the frustrating claims process while allowing your child and your family to recover in peace.
Who Is Responsible If My Child is Bitten by a Dog?
When your child suffers a dog bite, Oklahoma actually makes it easy to determine who is responsible. Oklahoma is a “strict liability” dog bite state. That means that dog owners aren’t excused from the blame for a bite wound even if it’s the first time a dog has shown aggression. They are generally held liable in every case involving a child.
Strict liability for the pet owner would be followed unless:
- The victim was trespassing.
- The victim provoked the dog.
But when a young child is involved, these exceptions usually don’t hold water. A child isn’t expected to have the mental capacity to understand property lines and make safe decisions. It would usually be up to the dog owner to make sure a dog was secure behind a fence or in a room that a child couldn’t get access to.
It’s also hard to expect children to stop and think before they approach a dog that captures their attention. The parents would be expected to stop them from going up to a dog, but the owner is also liable to keep dogs far enough away from children to prevent a bite. The owner would usually be accountable.
Parents can file an injury claim against the dog owner’s homeowners or renter’s insurance provider. In some cases, a landlord or property owner could also be held liable. If the landlord knew about a tenant who had a dog that had shown aggression, the landlord could be held responsible for not seeking to remove the tenant or acting to protect others from the dog.
Your Ylla|Gosney attorney would determine every party that should be contributing to the support of your child during recovery. Your lawyer would seek support for a child’s current needs and the child’s needs in the future if a dog bite wound flared up in later years.
What If My Child Is Bitten By a Dog at A Friend’s House or at a Family Get Together?
Children are often bitten while visiting friends and family. Afterward, parents may have mixed feelings about holding someone they know responsible for a pet’s actions. But that’s not the best way to look at it.
You would be filing a claim against the family member’s or friend’s insurance provider. The claim usually wouldn’t target the loved one directly. It’s also exactly why homeowner pays their insurance premiums. To be able to protect themselves and victims when accidents happen.
If your friend or loved one cares about you and your child, they’ll want to make sure your child has everything they need to get the best care available.
Compensation for Children After a Tulsa Dog Bite
Our Tulsa Dog Bite Lawyers work hard to secure every benefit for your family while providing as little disruption to your child’s life as possible. Our skilled attorneys will be securing all evidence and submitting it in an insurance claim. That claim also includes a full list of every hardship the child and your family have endured and every hardship that may be on the horizon.
This list must be complete because anything left off is damage the insurance company will ignore and leave for your family to cover.
Every damage that’s included will help increase the amount your family receives on a dog bite settlement check.
- Totals on medical bills.
- Estimates on the cost of restorative surgeries for children suffering disfigurements.
- Estimates on long-term care if a child is left with permanent physical disabilities.
- Additional medical support for the future. Child dog bite victims can struggle with their injuries years later as they approach adulthood. An injury can flare up as their bones and muscles develop and try to grow. Sometimes surgery is necessary to correct a broken bone that’s healed incorrectly. These costs must all be the responsibility of the insurance company.
- Support for the physical child victims endure.
- Support for the emotional trauma children must cope with. This might include the anxiety and PTSD symptoms victims experience in the aftermath of a frightening dog attack.
- Totals on travel costs as children must make doctor’s appointments and meet with surgeons. The costs could include trips out of town to see child injury specialists.
- Totals on lost paychecks and benefits while parents must miss work while caring for a child and driving to medical appointments.
- In the case of a tragic fatal dog bite incident, families can file a wrongful death claim to ask for help covering the costs of a funeral and pay off remaining medical bills. Parents would also be able to seek support for the companionship and love they’ll never experience with their child in the future.
Contact a Tulsa Child Dog Bite Lawyer
Ylla|Gosney Attorneys at Law is committed to compassionately representing child dog bite victims and their families after a scary dog encounter.
Our lawyers take special care with young victims and seek to earn them extra support to cover any challenges ahead. Parents can contact us to schedule a free and confidential case review to find out how to protect their child now and in the future.
If we can help you and your family earn more in support after a tragic dog bite, you won’t need to worry about having money to hire us. Ylla|Gosney doesn’t get paid unless we win your child’s case. Then our attorney fee comes out of the settlement award the insurance company is forced to provide.
