Legal implications surrounding a dog bite

Any innocent bystander has a claim against the owners of domestic animals should they be injured by those animals.
The most common of these are dog bite cases. Often the defence raised by owners of dogs is that the person being bitten was not invited onto the premises. However, in law, this does not constitute a defence.

Litigation of these claims includes such issues as:

1. Whether or not the owner was in control of the dogs;
2. The nature of the animals, i.e. do they have a history of being aggressive; and
3. Were the dogs left unattended and unsecured?
As such, injuries which the victim suffers are foreseeable, in other words, the attack can be anticipated by the owner of the animals and with reasonable precautions and carefully avoided.

Once these grounds are established, one can make a case for negligence against the dog owner and pursue the damages claim. Damages which can be recovered include the medical and hospital expenses which have been incurred for treatment of the bite including emergency treatment as well as future medical and hospital expenses which may be required, this could be counselling for the psychological trauma as well as plastic surgery for any scaring if there is any.

Dog bites can also cause a person to be off from work for extended periods of time and the loss of earnings can be claimed.
Finally, the person being attacked by a dog suffers emotional and psychological trauma and may require treatment both immediately and in the future and can claim general damages for pain and suffering and loss of amenities of life.

How do I pay the legal fees?

We do consider personal injury matters on our ordinary no win no fee basis if the case qualifies.

Learn more about personal injury claims and dog bites

If you would like to institute or pursue a dog bite claim with the assistance of Malcolm Lyons and Brivik, contact us on the details below. Malcolm Lyons and Brivik specialise in medical law, personal injury law, labour and road accident fund claims and have been recognised as leading attorneys in South Africa since 1965.