Straight talk is good business.
Cole, Cole, Easley, and Sciba can help you or someone you care about that’s been injured by a dog bite in Victoria.
Regardless of a dog’s temperament or training, they can react aggressively in a given situation. And the most likely outcome from something like that is an injury from a bite or attack.
Our team can help you through the claims process and answer your questions.
Set up a free consultation today.
Every dog bite is unfortunate, but getting legal help doesn’t necessarily make sense for every one of them. If it’s just a minor bite, you’re probably okay with just heading to urgent care and getting it taken care of. But even with a dog bite, there’s a lot of variability. There’s puncture wounds to worry about in the short-term, but long-term, there’s pain, scarring, infections, and other things to worry about. If that’s the situation you’re in, that’s when getting a lawyer makes sense.
And that’s where our Victoria dog bite team can help you by:
Most of all, our goal is to make the process easier for you and your family while you focus on getting better. Dog bites can happen in a lot of everyday situations here, even involving dogs that have never shown aggression before. Knowing your rights and taking the right steps early on can have a major impact on your claim.
Getting bitten by a dog is shocking and really throws off your day. But once the initial shock wears off, it’s going to be important to try to start getting as much information as you can if you need to move forward with a claim. Here’s what can really help you:
While this sounds straightforward, it’s much different when you’re dealing with injuries and the shock of being attacked. Your first priority should always be your safety and getting medical care. After that, you’ll need certain pieces of information to move things along. And that starts with figuring out liability.
In Victoria and throughout Texas, dog bite cases generally follow the state’s “one bite” rule. That’s just another way of saying “negligence.” And to hold someone responsible for your injuries, you have to show that:
All of this sounds fairly straightforward, but like any injury situation, it can get a bit murky in a real-life situation. That means legal responsibility for your injuries could fall on:
Remember, there’s also “comparative negligence” to worry about. You still have the right to file a claim if somebody was negligent and that led to your bite injuries, but if you were doing something like trespassing or did something to make the dog react aggressively, your damages could be reduced by your percentage of fault. All of which is to say that the details of your situation matters.
There’s two ways to look at the fallout of a dog bite in Victoria. First is your injuries. They can vary a lot based on what actually happened and what kind of dog it is, but generally, they typicall result in things like:
With these injuries, getting medical care early on is crucial. But it’s also critical for another reason. The sooner you get treated, the easier it is to tie your injuries to the bite itself. And it’s your injuries and other losses from the bite that make up the core of your “legal damages” when you file a claim against whoever was responsible.
Whether you decide to file an insurance claim out of court or go to court with a lawsuit, your damages can include costs relating to your:
Texas law generally gives you two years from the date of the dog bite to file your claim. It’s important, because missing this deadline can take away your ability to get damages at all—no matter how strong your claim is.
Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) dog bites can happen anywhere you come across a dog in Victoria. And it’s even more unfortunate that they happen in everyday places like:
You obviously never want to be in a situation where you’re bitten and injured. But when you see a dog while you’re out for a run in Riverside Park or even over at your friend’s house, it can happen. When it does, you don’t have to try to handle it on your own.
Not being able to find the dog’s owner can make things a bit more difficult, but not impossible. Most bites happen in familiar places, so you’ll likely know the owner. But even if you don’t, do what you can to get details about the dog itself. That can make them easier to track down.
If you’re bitten randomly while out and about in Victoria, it’s likely that the dog’s owner, the city, or a private business or property owner is going to be responsible because they’re all responsible for maintaining safety. It also depends on the circumstances, though, and our team knows how to narrow this down.
A lot of dog bite victims in Victoria are children, and if it happens to your child, we can help you figure out negligence and file a claim on behalf of your child. They have the same rights as anyone else.
Nobody wants to be in a situation where they’re bitten by a dog, whether they’re familiar with the dog or not. But these are among the most common cases we see here in Victoria. And while it’s painful, you have options.
Our Victoria dog bite lawyers at Cole, Cole, Easley, and Sciba can look at your situation, explain your legal options, and help you get the financial aid you need to heal and move forward.
Reach out today to set up a free consultation and let us talk you through your options.
We communicate with clients clearly and tell them candidly what they can expect, given the specifics of the case.
We believe in giving back to the Victoria community. We support various organizations financially and with our time.
In 1954, Emmett Cole, Jr., returned to the crossroads area to found our practice after working a year at a Houston law firm.
We have provided effective, ethical legal representation throughout Texas and nationwide for more than 50 years.
