In the most common dog bite cases, the victim is entitled to:
- Economic damages: This most often refers to medical costs, expenses of transportation for medical reasons (i.e., an ambulance, airlift, mileage to the doctor), future medical costs associated with any necessary cosmetic treatment of scars/surgeries, loss of income (both past and future), defensive measures necessitated by the dog attachk (such as putting up a fence), loss of the property value (due to proximity of dangerous dogs), torn clothing, counseling and psychological expenses (both past and future), funds expended on anything (vacations for example) that could not be taken because of the accident, and other out-of-pocket costs that were necessary because of the dog bite.
- Non-economic damages: including pain from the injury and treatment, mental suffering when confronted by dogs or remembering the attack, humiliation caused by scars, loss of quality of life because of disability, anxiety about not being able to get work in the future, loss of earning capacity in the future, the indignity of being handicapped and similar detriments that are intangible by nature.
The exact amount of money depends on a large number of factors, such as the age and gender of the victim, his or her relationship to the defendants, the nature and extent of injury, the presence of visible or painful scaring, the degree of disability caused by the dog bite, the attitudes of potential jurors in the relevant court district, the strength of the evidence, and much more. There is no general rule or formula that tells how much money your case is “worth”, but once we know all of the details, an experienced dog bite injury attorney at Shocklee Paolino can help you get on the right track to successfully regain all that you’ve lost.