4. Dog Bites: What to do if a Dog Bites You?
Deezer In this episode Jonathan Rosenfeld chats with Gerald Bekkerman an Attorney at Taxman, Pollock, Murray, & Bekkerman, LLC. Here, they discuss dog bites and how prevalent they are.
They also answer 4 key questions:
1) What are laws that cover dog bites in Illinois?
2) Who pays for injuries related to a dog bite case?
3) How do insurance companies defend dog bite cases?
4) How do damages in dog bite cases work? How they are different from other types of personal injury cases? What about scarring and disfigurement?
Read the Transcript
Jonathan Rosenfeld:
Hello everybody! I am Jonathan Rosenfeld, and today on the personal injury podcast we are going to talk about dog bite injuries. And before you start rolling your eyes and say to yourself: "Wow, this guy's really digging deep for topics", the truth is, is that dog bites are probably one of the most common and most significant type of personal injury cases out there that people in every demographic will likely experience. I was doing some intensive research prior to the podcast, and I was looking at Canine Journal and each year, there are four and a half million people who are involved in dog bites. And 800,000 of those people receive medical care for dog bites each year. Very, very significant number. If you look at that number even a little bit closer, probably the more disturbing thing is that children under 14 make up almost half of those 800,000 injuries.
Jonathan Rosenfeld:
So there's almost 400,000 children out there who are injured every year in dog bite cases. And when it comes to the legal aspect of a dog bite case is, I'm going to talk with my guests about very shortly, the dog owner in these situations is typically responsible for the injuries their dogs may inflict on a victim. So, as the owner of a dog, this is a podcast that you want to listen to. As someone who may have been involved in a dog bite, this is also something that you're really going to want to take note of.
Jonathan Rosenfeld:
Because at the end of the day, dog bites make up a very significant percentage of claims made under homeowners insurance policies here in Illinois, and really across the country. They're really one of the most common types of claims made under people's homeowners policies. And today, I'm really excited to have a... In Illinois we can't say an expert, but I've got a very experienced attorney with me who's handled many, many dog bite cases. Gerald Bekkerman. Jerry is a partner in Chicago at the law firm of Taxman, Pollick, Murray, and Bekkerman, and Jerry and his firm have handled dog bite cases really across Illinois in the Chicago area. So, first off Jerry, thank you for joining me today.
Gerald Bekkerman:
You're welcome. Thanks for having me, happy to talk about the fabulous world of dog bites. It's always ironic as a dog owner to discuss a topic, but you're very accurate in the numbers you read. I mean, these are prevalent cases. Dogs bite. There's issues that happen with owning a pet and there's insurance issues that apply, and there's interesting nuances in the law that apply. And it's a serious topic.
Jonathan Rosenfeld:
To begin with, in Illinois, the state legislature has the Animal Control Act here and you don't have to recite the law to us, okay. But can you sort of give us an idea of what the Animal Control Act is and how it applies to these situations? Because when you're pursuing any type of personal injury case, you can pursue it based on general negligence or, in some situations there's actually a statute that applies to the situation. So, can you just sort of give us a little bit of a rundown of what the Animal Control Act is in Illinois?
Gerald Bekkerman:
Yeah. Basically the law says that if you own an animal, I mean, we'll talk about it, the dog. If a dog, and the key word is without provocation, okay, what does that mean without provocation? So you go up to a doggy on the street and you start poking and prodding at him and the dog bites you. Well, you probably don't need to do that. That's not what a reasonable person does. But, if a dog or any other animal, keep it in the context of dogs cause that's most prevalent, attacks or attempts to attack you, which is another nuance. Basically, attacks you while you're peacefully conducting yourself. So instead of poking and prodding, just sort of walking by a dog, for no reason whatsoever, that dog just lunges at you in the street, it takes a nice, big old chunk out of your thigh. All right.
Gerald Bekkerman:
The owner of that dog is liable to you, the victim, for any damages in a civil court that you can claim as a result of that injury. So what does that mean? We talk about provocation. You can't provoke the dog. I mean, that's a defense and you could lose on a case like that. You got to be peacefully conducting yourself. So the example I gave is very, a common one. It's just walking down the street and the dog bites you. Or, the dog escapes from a fence in someone's property because they left the hole opening or whatever, or the dog leaves it jarred and jumps into the neighbor's yard and attacks a kid, all those are the laws that basically say that you own that dog.
Gerald Bekkerman:
You may have done nothing wrong. Okay? Your dog may have been fine, gentle pup and acting out because they're one and a half years old, and you're just in your home watching the game, having a beer on the couch. Your dog leaves the yard, where there should be and goes into the neighbor's yard and bites the neighbor's kid. You as dog's owner are liable to that child or that victim, whoever the dog bit, for their damages. Those damages are the same as any damage claim in the state of Illinois. So the medical bills, okay. Pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life. And oftentimes in these kinds of cases: scarring. Because these dog bites, the significant ones lead very serious scarring, often require plastic surgery, visions, things of that nature. You as a dog owner and your insurance, which is typically involved, are liable to the victim for those monies, even though you, as a human being, did nothing wrong, other than going to get a dog some point in your life.
Jonathan Rosenfeld:
I think one of the things that comes up in a lot of dog bite cases is, first off, these typically happen either in your home or in your neighborhood where you may be walking your dog. And these claims typically involve friends or family members who may be at your house or in your yard. And a lot of times there's a hesitation involved with victims of these cases in terms of pursuing a claim against the dog owner. And can you talk a little bit about what the claims process is? Because a lot of times I've spoken to people where they're like, "You know what, I don't want to pursue a case against my relative or my neighbor, because I don't want to be the bad guy. I liked that person". First off, can you just sort of explain a little bit about the insurance coverage for these cases?
Gerald Bekkerman:
Sure. So any home owner, typically when you purchase homeowners insurance and you purchase for whatever limits you have 300,000, 500,000, a million more, whatever you and your broker or whatever you're required to by the mortgage company work with. When you purchase that insurance dog bite protection if you will, insurance for your pet is provided. So you've got to disclose say I own a Goldendoodle. I own a German Shepherd. I own this. I own that. I own a Beagle. And as part of the coverage for your homeowners, the same as if they would fall down your stairs, cause you didn't maintain your stairs, if they get bit by your dog, if they're acting peacefully, they'll provoke it. And they're where they're supposed to be. So if you invite somebody over to your house, they're where they're supposed to be. They're not trespassing, right? And your dog influenced damage on them by biting them.
Gerald Bekkerman:
They have a claim against your insurance. So no different than if you didn't maintain your stairs and someone falls through them and injures themselves, they can sue you and file a claim, same thing with your dog. And it does often happen. A lot of cases are between family members or friends or play dates where someone's dog nipped at a child's eye, and unfortunately, now that child's got scarring under the eye, the rest of their life. It can be an uncomfortable topic, but honestly that's what you have insurance for. I mean, if you're paying for the insurance and your pet injures a friend or family member and causes a great despair financially, mentally, physically. You probably want them to get whatever they're entitled to under the law in the state of Illinois. And that's what we have insurance, and that's how typically the process would work.
Jonathan Rosenfeld:
Yeah. I think a lot of times people have a misconception that they're somehow going to cause some financial hardship where the dog owner or their friend or whatever. But the truth is, is that that claim is paid by their homeowners insurance company and there's really no money paid out of their pocket. Correct?
Gerald Bekkerman:
Correct. Usually the homeowners coverage is sufficient, and most homeowner insurance coverage policies are pretty significant and are adequate to pay for the kind of injury sustained in dog bite cases. So yeah, it's not going to be "Oh gosh, I'm suing my aunt and she's going to lose everything"....