If you were bitten by someone else’s dog in Rock Hill, SC, our lawyers at Elrod Pope Accident & Injury Attorneys are here to help. The dog’s owner may owe you significant compensation. An experienced Rock Hill dog bite lawyer can help you maximize your compensation for medical bills, lost wages, pain, trauma, and other injury-related losses.
Collectively, our attorneys have over 150 years of experience in personal injury law. We’ve succeeded in recovering over $100 million in settlements and verdicts.
Now, we’re here to help you hold the dog’s owner accountable for your injuries. Call (803) 324-7574 to explore your legal options for recovering compensation. We offer a free case review, so there’s no risk in getting legal advice.
How Can Elrod Pope Accident & Injury Attorneys Help With My Dog Bite Injury Claim in Rock Hill, South Carolina?
Dog bites can be extremely traumatic. They often leave victims struggling with painful injuries, financial losses, and the overwhelming task of trying to get compensation from the dog’s owner and their insurance company.
Our Rock Hill personal injury lawyers at Elrod Pope Accident & Injury Attorneys can help. We have over four decades of experience successfully advocating on behalf of personal injury victims and their families. We have the detailed legal knowledge necessary to help you maximize your financial award.
When you hire us, you’ll gain an experienced team to:
- Launch an investigation to locate and preserve evidence
- Explain your legal options
- Locate all parties who can be legally responsible
- Assess your injuries and damages
- Calculate the value of your personal injury claim
- Protect against any claims that you somehow provoked the dog bite
- Handle the insurance and legal paperwork and communications
- Negotiate with the insurance adjuster on your behalf for a full settlement
- Reject any unacceptable deals and take your case to trial
We’re always available to discuss your case and options. If you were bitten by someone else’s dog, contact our Rock Hill dog bite attorneys to determine whether you have a valid claim for compensation.
How Common Are Dog Bites in South Carolina?
An estimated 4.7 million dog bite injury claims are reported each year in the United States. Insurance companies paid over $1 billion to settle dog bite injury claims in a recent year alone.
What is My Rock Hill Dog Bite Injury Case Worth?
There’s no precise formula for assessing the value of a personal injury case.
To determine how much your case is worth, your lawyers will consider:
- The type of injuries you’ve suffered
- Whether you’ll suffer any long-term impairment
- Your medical treatment costs
- Your need for ongoing medical care, and the cost
- Whether the injury has harmed your earnings or future earning capacity
- Whether you did anything to provoke the dog
Make no mistake, the insurance companies have the advantage when you’re negotiating a settlement. If you don’t have experience handling personal injury cases, you likely don’t really know how much your case is worth. That’s one reason why hiring an experienced attorney is so critical to the outcome of your case.
What Types of Damages Are Available to Dog Bite Victims in Rock Hill, SC?
The dog’s owner should be forced to take financial responsibility for everything you’re going through. That includes compensating you for financial losses, also called your economic damages, and the more personal losses caused by a serious injury.
Examples of the types of damages you may deserve include:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning potential
- Physical therapy
- Rehabilitation
- Reconstructive surgeries
- Property damage
- Pain and suffering
- Physical disfigurement and scarring
- Emotional distress
- Anxiety
- Depression
- PTSD
- Diminished quality of life
- Loss of consortium
Calculating the value of non-economic losses, the non-financial losses like pain and suffering, is not always straightforward. While attorneys may use a multiplier to estimate non-economic damages based on a total economic damages award, other factors may be relevant.
How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Lawyer to Handle a Dog Bite Claim?
If you’re already struggling with painful injuries, you shouldn’t have to worry about legal fees on top of it all. Our Rock Hill dog bite lawyers work on a contingency. Rather than paying an initial fee for our legal services, you’ll pay a percentage of any compensation we recover in your case. There’s never any risk that you’ll be stuck with bills if your attorney isn’t successful in recovering compensation.
Can I Recover Damages If I’m Being Blamed for Causing the Dog Bite in South Carolina?
Provocation is often a key defense in dog bite injury claims. If the owner can prove you did something that a reasonable person would expect would provoke a dog to bite, your compensation will be reduced–sometimes all the way to $0.
South Carolina has modified comparative negligence laws. If your share of fault is less than 51% of the total fault, your compensation is reduced by your share of blame. If you’re found mostly responsible, however, you lose your right to damages completely.
Allocating blame in a personal injury case is rarely cut and dry. If someone is blaming you, you deserve to have someone who knows how to defend you on your team. Our lawyers will be prepared with the strong evidence you need to protect your right to compensation.
Our Experienced Team in Rock Hill Will Seek Full Compensation for All of Your Dog Bite Injuries
Dog bites and animal attacks can leave victims struggling with surprisingly serious injuries. Young children are particularly vulnerable to serious injuries when they’re attacked by a dog.
Our lawyers at Elrod Pope Accident & Injury Attorneys represent clients in all types of personal injury cases, including those involving:
- Puncture wounds and torn skin
- Facial injuries
- Eye injuries
- Broken bones
- Concussions
- Dislocations
- Shoulder injuries
- Soft tissue damage to the muscles, ligaments and tendons
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Head and neck injuries
- Infections
- Organ damage
- Amputations in cases involving severely infected wounds
Don’t hesitate to reach out for help if you were injured by someone else’s dog. We offer free case evaluations, so there’s never any risk.
What Do I Have to Prove to Win a Dog Bite Injury Claim in South Carolina?
South Carolina applies a strict liability law in dog bite injury cases. You don’t have to prove the dog had bitten someone in the past. Similarly, you don’t have to prove the dog’s owner was aware that the dog had vicious tendencies.
Instead, dog bite victims must prove:
- The defendant owned the dog in question or was responsible for the dog’s care or keeping
- You were bitten by the dog
- You suffered injuries or damages
- You were legally on private property or public property when the dog bite occurred
A dog’s owner can be held responsible even if you were bitten while lawfully on the dog owner’s own property.
Does the Dog’s Owner Have Any Defenses to Application of South Carolina’s Strict Liability Dog Bite Law?
The dog’s owner has two primary defenses that they can use to avoid being automatically held liable for your damages:
- You were trespassing at the time of the dog bite
- You did something to provoke the dog to bite you
Even if these defenses are successful, however, the dog’s owner may still be responsible. However, you’ll have to prove that the dog’s owner was somehow negligent and allowed the dog to bite. For example, if the dog’s owner ignored leash laws and failed to keep their animal secure, they may be found liable for negligence.
Can Someone Other Than the Dog’s Owner Be Held Responsible for My Damages?
Possibly. Negligence theories can also be relevant to hold third parties accountable for your dog bite injuries. For example, a landlord or business owner may also be held liable if they had a duty to protect you from reasonably foreseeable harm and failed to do so. These third-party claims are governed by South Carolina premises liability laws.
Establishing liability requires proof that:
- You were legally on the owner’s premises
- The risk that the dog would bite was reasonably foreseeable
- The owner knew, or reasonably should have known, about the dog bite risk
- The property owner failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the dog bite
- The dog did bite you
- You suffered damages
Our lawyers in Rock Hill are prepared to explore every option to help you get the compensation you deserve. Contact us today to learn more about your legal options today.
How Long Do I Have to File a Lawsuit After a Dog Bites Me in South Carolina?
The statute of limitations in South Carolina gives you three years from the date of the dog bite to file a lawsuit. If you wait longer than three years, you can lose your right to damages entirely.
Contact a Trusted Rock Hill Dog Bite Lawyer for a Free Consultation
Dog bite injuries can leave victims struggling with significant injuries. An experienced Rock Hill dog bite lawyer at Elrod Pope Accident & Injury Attorneys can help you fight for the maximum compensation you deserve. Reach out today to start building your claim for compensation.
