Cascade Dog Bite Injury Attorneys

Immediate Steps After a Dog Bite

If you or a loved one is bitten by a dog, the first thing to do is call 911 so that police and appropriate medical personnel are sent to the scene. Dogs involved in an attack often do not have a collar and may run away before anyone can identify them, which is why it is important for police to investigate and determine who the dog's owner is. If the dog and its owner cannot be identified, a bite victim may need to consider rabies shots, since the animal's vaccination status will be unknown. Police will typically try to track down the owner and request proof of rabies vaccination from either the owner or the dog's veterinarian. If vaccination cannot be confirmed, the dog will likely be quarantined so it can be monitored for symptoms, which helps determine whether rabies shots are truly necessary.

Beyond the immediate health concerns, if the dog and its owner are never identified, there may be no source of compensation for the injuries suffered. If the owner is identified and owns a home, homeowners insurance often provides coverage for the incident. If the owner rents rather than owns, renters insurance may cover the dog's actions instead. If the owner has no insurance at all, a Cascade dog bite victim will need to consider whether the owner has other assets worth pursuing.

Medical Treatment and Care After a Dog Bite

Dog bite injuries can cause serious damage that may require antibiotics, stitches, rabies shots, mental health counseling, and eventually scar revision surgery. Once the immediate concern about rabies has been addressed, physical and emotional scars often remain. If you or a loved one experience flashbacks to the attack, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, or a new fear of dogs, it is worth seeing a qualified mental health counselor as soon as possible, since treating these issues early tends to lead to better outcomes.

From a physical standpoint, scarring is common once stitches are removed, and doctors will often recommend avoiding direct sun exposure or using sunscreen to help a scar heal properly. If a scar is still visible and bothersome after six to twelve months, a consultation with a plastic surgeon may be worthwhile, since procedures using lasers, chemical treatments, and other scar revision techniques can help reduce its appearance.

Nerve Damage From a Dog Bite

A dog's powerful jaws can injure more than skin and muscle. Nerves, tendons, and bones can all be damaged in an attack, and nerve injuries in particular can significantly affect a bite victim's long term recovery and quality of life.

Signs of Nerve Damage

Motor nerves control actions and movement by carrying signals from the spinal cord and brain to the muscles. Signs of motor nerve damage may include weakness, paralysis, fasciculation (twitching), and muscle atrophy. Sensory nerves, which carry information about sensation such as pain from the muscles and skin back to the brain and spinal cord, can produce signs including burning, numbness, pain, prickling or tingling, and difficulty with positional awareness.

How Nerve Damage Affects a Dog Bite Claim

Nerve damage can occur to the face, hands, or other parts of the body, and additional injuries such as fractures are also possible. Open wounds carry a risk of infection, and a bite may result in disfigurement, all of which are important considerations when evaluating the value of a claim. Dog owner liability depends on state law, and in Iowa it is relatively straightforward to hold an owner liable for a bite, with a limited exception if the victim was acting unlawfully in a way that contributed to the injury, such as trespassing.

Recoverable damages in a nerve damage case can include the medical costs of treatment, which may involve surgery, and cosmetic surgery if the injury affects appearance. Lost earnings may also be recoverable for time missed from work while healing, and in more serious cases, for anticipated future earnings if the attack results in a lasting disability. Nerve damage may also support recovery for pain and suffering, emotional distress, reduced quality of life, and compensation for permanent scarring or disfigurement.

Filing a Complaint Against a Dangerous Dog

It is possible to file a complaint against a dog even if it has never actually bitten anyone. Iowa cities commonly use a two tier system for classifying vicious and dangerous dogs, and once a dog receives either classification, the city can take steps to protect public safety.

What Makes a Dog "Vicious"

Under this type of municipal code, a dog may be classified as vicious if it has attacked a person or domestic animal without provocation, shown a tendency to attack or endanger safety, snapped or bitten, been trained for dog fighting, or been trained to attack humans on command or spontaneously, aside from police dogs. Certain breeds, including the Staffordshire terrier, American pit bull terrier, and American Staffordshire terrier, or dogs with the appearance of these breeds, may also be classified as vicious under this type of ordinance, regardless of the individual dog's actual behavior. A dog that growls, becomes rigid, or otherwise appears threatening can also be labeled vicious, as can a dog that harms a person through means other than biting, such as knocking someone down or clawing at their face.

What Makes a Dog "Dangerous"

A more serious classification, dangerous, generally requires the dog to have bitten or clawed a person on two separate occasions within a twelve month period, bitten or clawed once causing injuries above the shoulders, been uncontrollable by its owner during an attack, attacked a domestic animal on three or more occasions, or killed a domestic animal while off the owner's property. Many of these conditions require repeated or especially serious attacks, sometimes involving grave injuries to the head, face, or neck, meaning a dog that has never attacked cannot be declared dangerous.

Legal Steps After a Dog Bite

Iowa applies strict liability to dog bite injuries, meaning that to recover damages, a victim generally only needs to prove that a dog attacked or bit them, subject to very few exceptions. This is why promptly identifying the dog's owner is so important. If the owner has insurance coverage, a claim should be submitted to that insurance company, which will assign an adjuster to the case. That adjuster will likely want to speak with the victim and see photos of the injury, and may request a recorded statement, which is often not advisable to provide without guidance. For minor injuries, sharing general information is usually fine, but for more serious injuries, speaking with an attorney before talking to the adjuster is worth considering. It is important to remember that an insurance adjuster represents the dog owner and is trained to resolve claims for as little as possible, not to look out for the bite victim's best interests.

A qualified dog bite attorney can guide a Cascade victim through this process to help avoid costly mistakes. Once hired, an attorney becomes the victim's advocate, communicating with the insurance adjuster, answering questions, protecting the victim's rights, and working to secure fair compensation for the injuries suffered.