Accidents & injuries
Dog bite
Tell us what happened and where. Nothing here is legal advice, and nothing on this page predicts what any case is worth.
What decides what a dog bite claim is worth?
Mostly evidence and consequence, not the label on the incident. Who was responsible and what proves it. How badly you were hurt, what treatment you have had, and what you still need. What you have lost in earnings or independence. And what insurance is actually available to pay. An attorney licensed in your state has to weigh those against the facts before anyone can say what a claim is worth, which is why this page asks about them instead of offering a figure.
Capture the scene and your recovery
Photograph the wounds before and after treatment, and again as they heal. Get the owner's name and address and ask whether the dog is vaccinated. Report it to animal control or the police — that report establishes the animal's history, which is often the point that matters.
Record what you know without guessing at fault. If you are unsure about something, write down that you are unsure — that is more useful later than a confident guess, and nobody expects you to have a complete account.
What tends to decide cases like this
Rules about dogs differ sharply from state to state, and whether the animal had a history often matters. That is why reporting to animal control is worth doing even if you do not intend to take anything further: it creates the record. Photograph the wounds as they heal, not only at the start, and keep every invoice, including the ones that seem small.
What can affect a claim like this
The evidence, the law that applies where it happened, the deadlines that apply to that kind of claim, and the circumstances all matter. Someone else’s result does not determine yours, and no figure on this site is a prediction for any case.
An attorney looks at how serious the injury is and how clearly it is documented, what care has been needed, whether the effects are expected to last, what income has been lost, who was responsible and what evidence shows it. Where responsibility is shared, how that is treated differs from state to state.
How to start
Choose dog bite in the form, add the state and city where it happened, and tell us how to reach you. It takes about a minute, nothing is sent until you press send, and you can stop at any point. Find A Tough Lawyer is a legal media and lead-generation service, not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice.
Check your case factors — five questions, nothing sent
Can these settlements predict my result?
No. Any figure below is one case, reported by the source named beneath it. They are other people’s cases — not our results, not typical, and not a prediction for anyone else. What a particular claim is worth depends on the evidence, responsibility, treatment, losses, future needs, insurance and the law of that state.
We hold no published settlement for this kind of case yet. When one exists, it appears here with its source, its date and what it does and does not show. See the cases we do hold
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