According to research, 1,000 people in the United States are treated for serious dog bite injuries every day, with 9,500 of them being hospitalized from their injuries each year. Hospitalizations can lead to loss of income, and some injuries can be severe enough to lead to disability. If you currently are not gainfully employed due to a dog bite injury, you may be considering filing a lawsuit. Here's what you need to prove.
How long will your injuries prevent you from working?
Generally, for Social Security Disability Insurance to be awarded you have to prove that your medical condition and/or injuries will last longer than a year. If you are expected to recover within a year, you will not be approved for SSDI. Speak with your physician regarding your prognosis. If he or she believes you will not recover within a year, you may be eligible for SSDI. However, keep in mind that it often takes several attempts to be awarded with SSDI benefits. Regardless of whether or not you can receive SSDI, you can still attempt to receive compensation for your injuries through a civil lawsuit.
Can you prove a civil lawsuit case?
Just because you were bitten by a dog doesn't mean you will automatically win a lawsuit. There are several factors that need to be considered, including:
- was the dog provoked?
- did the dog appear agitated beforehand?
- were you legally allowed to be on the property?
- were there any "beware of dog" signs?
In many states, dog owners are responsible for the actions of their dogs. However, this doesn't mean that victims are without responsibility if they provoked the dog or the dog clearly showed signs of aggressive behavior beforehand. The situations leading up to the injury will need to be brought to the attention of your lawyer who can then determine a plan of action.
How many expenses have you accumulated from the injury?
In addition to receiving compensation for your loss of income in a civil lawsuit, you can also receive compensation from medical expenses, loss of quality of life, pain and suffering, permanent scarring, and loss of future earning capacity. Speak with a personal injury lawyer for more information about what you can be compensated for based on the laws of your state.
To determine the monetary amounts of the compensation for the various aspects of your case, you'll need to gather all pertinent documents for your lawyer, including medical bills, letter's from your doctors, wage earning statements, and any employee evaluations that showed you were in good standing with your employer and would have remained as an employee for the foreseeable future prior to the injury.
Contact an office like the Law Office of Daniel E Goodman, LLC for more information.
