Dog owners and other responsible parties have a duty to protect others. If a dog bit you or a loved one in San Jose, liable parties should cover your medical bills, lost income, and other damages. A San Jose dog bite attorney from Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos will lead an insurance claim or lawsuit for you, demanding that liable parties cover your damages.
Our firm has successfully represented many animal bite victims in San Jose and other cities throughout California. We understand how to calculate damages and hold liable parties accountable for harm their animals cause. Let our attorneys seek the financial support you deserve.
- Why Dog Bite Victims in San Jose Trust Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos to Get Justice
- What Damages Should a Dog Bite Victim Seek Compensation For?
- How a Dog Bite Attorney From Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos Will Seek Compensation for You in San Jose
- Basic Responsibilities That Every Dog Owner Must Live up To
- Call Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos Today About Hiring a San Jose Dog Bite Attorney
- San Jose Office
Why Dog Bite Victims in San Jose Trust Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos to Get Justice
The legal team at Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos has represented dog bite accident victims for years. Rather than trying to learn about relevant laws and ways to seek compensation, rely on our firm’s experienced attorneys. We know how to resolve your case and can do so more effectively than you can—especially considering your injuries.
Some specific reasons to hire a dog bite lawyer from Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos include:
- Our results: Our lawyers have gotten millions of dollars for our clients. This includes judgments and verdicts of $10 million, $4.6 million, and $4.55 million. These results show how hard our attorneys and support staff work to get the money our clients deserve.
- Our client reviews: Our former clients have left many rave reviews about our attorneys and paralegals. Service is at the core of our law firm’s mission. Expect regular, compassionate communication. Also, expect our team to resolve your case as efficiently as possible and to manage every detail of the claims or legal process.
- Our presence in the San Jose area: We have offices conveniently located near San Jose. While we are always available to speak with you on the phone, you’ll also know where to find us for in-person meetings. Our local presence will also allow us to investigate your dog bite thoroughly.
- Our familiarity with dog bite cases: Our attorneys understand pet owners’ responsibilities to restrain their dogs. We also understand the legal standard for liability when a dog bites someone. Because we have handled many dog bite cases before, we are ready to start your case right now.
- Our resources: Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos provides complete financial support for dog bite victims. We will pay the cost of hiring experts, cover filing fees, and account for all other expenses.
Any attorney you hire will receive a percentage of any financial recovery they get for you. You must ensure that you hire the right law firm. If you do, that law firm may secure more compensation than you might get on your own.
Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos vows to fight for the entire financial recovery you deserve. Settling for less is not an option.
What Damages Should a Dog Bite Victim Seek Compensation For?
Each dog bite victim we represent has different injuries, symptoms, and damages. However, we see some common damages among victims of aggressive dogs, including:
Healthcare Costs
Most dog bite accident victims will need to seek medical attention. This is true when you suffer a deep puncture, any degree of skin tearing, or are uncertain of how serious your injuries are.
Necessary treatment for a dog bite may include:
- Emergency transportation
- Emergency treatment
- Surgery
- Antibiotics
- Shots to protect you from infection
- Hospitalization
You may require repeated medical appointments to monitor the healing of your injuries.
Dog bites also pose a considerable risk of infection. If your wound becomes infected, your medical costs may increase significantly. Many infections can be life-threatening if you don’t receive prompt medical treatment.
Pain and Suffering
A dog bite can cause both psychological and emotional distress.
Lawyers refer to psychological and emotional injuries as pain and suffering, and this class of damages may include:
- Physical pain
- Psychological distress
- Emotional anguish
- Traumatic memories of the dog bite
- Generalized anxiety
- Acute fear of dogs
- Lost quality of life
- Depression
Our firm works with mental health professionals who will diagnose the psychological and emotional toll of your dog bite.
Scarring and Disfigurement
You may deserve compensation for any scarring or other disfigurement resulting from a dog bite. Scarring can affect a victim’s self-esteem, dating life, mental health, and other aspects of their life.
Cosmetic Surgery
If you choose to pursue cosmetic surgery to address any disfigurement from a dog bite, our attorneys will include the cost of surgery in your California injury lawsuit or claim.
Professional Damages
Injuries from a dog bite may prevent you from working, either temporarily or permanently. Serious injuries, including nerve damage or significant disfigurement, may render you disabled.
Whether you can eventually return to work or not, your professional damages may include:
- Lost income
- Diminished earning power
- Missed opportunities to earn bonuses, employer-matched retirement contributions, and promotions
- Loss of fulfillment you get from working
We can secure pay statements to determine how much income your injuries have cost you.
Psychological Treatment
If you need medications, therapy, counseling, or other types of treatment for your emotional and psychological injuries, we’ll seek compensation for the treatment. Your mental and physical health is a primary concern after a dog bite. We’ll work to ensure you get all the services you need without worrying about the cost.
A Wrongful Death
Serious dog bites can be deadly, whether because of direct trauma or infection. If you have lost a loved one because of a dog bite, our team wants to get justice for you and the loved one you have lost.
Damages in a wrongful death case in San Jose may include:
- Funeral costs
- Loss of a spouse’s companionship
- Loss of a parent’s guidance
- Loss of the decedent’s household services
- Loss of the decedent’s income
- Pain and suffering for both the decedent and surviving loved ones
We handle wrongful death cases with immense compassion for the client. Our attorneys understand how difficult losing a loved one is, and we understand the stakes of wrongful death cases.
Whether you are dealing with the fallout from a fatal or nonfatal dog bite in San Jose, a dog bite attorney from Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos will work to get the compensation you deserve.
How a Dog Bite Attorney From Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos Will Seek Compensation for You in San Jose
Our lawyers create a customized plan for each dog bite case we handle. These plans typically include:
Identifying Those Liable for Your Dog Bite
Dog bites can happen under the watch of different parties.
Those you may hold liable for a dog bite include:
- A dog owner
- Owners of a kennel
- Veterinarians
- Any other party with a duty to prevent a dog bite
While a dog’s owner may be the most likely defendant in your case, we’ll consider the facts of your bite to establish liability.
Calculating the Cost of Your Damages
Our attorneys will calculate exactly how much money the liable parties owe you for two general classes of damages:
- Economic damages: This includes medical expenses, lost income, and other damages with a clear economic cost.
- Non-economic damages: This includes emotional distress, physical pain, and other damages without an obvious economic cost.
Our lawyers know how to calculate each of these types of damages. Non-economic damages can be especially difficult to calculate if you are not a lawyer. Our firm uses legally-established methods for calculating non-economic damages, ensuring we enter settlement negotiations with a realistic figure.
Securing Documentation of Your Damages
We will secure any documentation that proves your damages, including:
- Photographs of your injuries
- Medical images of your injuries
- Doctors’ written diagnoses of your injuries
- Medical bills
- Proof of your absence from work
- Past earning statements showing how much income you have lost because of the dog bite
- Mental health professionals’ testimony about your pain and suffering
Each case provides different documentation for us to use. We will aim to enter settlement discussions with all available documentation in hand.
Dealing With Insurance Companies and Others Involved in Your Case
Our office will manage all case-related communications. This includes discussions with insurance companies. Unless you must make a statement to insurance companies, we generally advise that you let us handle discussions with insurers.
Insurance companies prioritize their own financial interests. What is best for insurers is often not what’s best for our california punitive damage injury case.
Insurers may:
- Attempt to have you admit some degree of fault for your dog bite
- Pressure you to accept a lowball settlement offer
- Delay the processing of your claim
- Dispute the nature or value of your bite-related losses
- Engage in other bad-faith tactics in an attempt to underpay (or avoid paying) you
Our attorneys will press insurers to handle your case promptly and in good faith. We will also handle any necessary discussions with liable parties and their attorneys.
Leading Settlement Negotiations
Our firm will represent you during settlement negotiations. Negotiations are where law firms deliver tangible value to dog bite victims, securing the compensation that the client deserves. We will prepare diligently to fight for the compensation you deserve and aim to resolve your case with a fair settlement.
Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos also handles trials for our clients. Though lawsuits rarely go to trial, sometimes you must go to court. If taking your case to court is the appropriate path for your case, our team is ready.
Basic Responsibilities That Every Dog Owner Must Live up To
Whether a dog owner is in one of San Jose’s public spaces or at their own residence, they must abide by the responsibilities of pet ownership.
These responsibilities include:
- Ensuring that a dog cannot escape any outdoor area, including a yard
- Restraining the dog before opening the front door for visitors
- Keeping the dog on a leash when in public
- Taking other precautionary measures to protect others from a foreseeable risk of a dog bite
If a dog owner has any reason to suspect that a dog is aggressive, they must operate accordingly by increasing their safety efforts. This means warning anyone who attempts to approach the dog of its unfriendly demeanor. This may also mean muzzling and restraining the dog when in public.
However, dog owners do not have to do anything wrong to be liable for dog bite injuries in California. The law holds owners strictly liable for harm due to their dogs, whether the dog ever bit anyone before or not. This does not mean that dog bite claims are simple, however, as many challenges can arise.
Dog owners might defend against your claim by alleging that:
- You were trespassing on their property, so you do not have the right to compensation for your dog bite injuries.
- You provoked the dog into attacking you.
These are common dog bite defenses, and our team knows how to prove you did nothing wrong to bring on your dog bite injuries.
Insurance companies regularly undervalue dog bite injuries, trying to minimize the insurer’s liability. Just because an insurance company agrees to cover your losses does not mean it will voluntarily give you everything you deserve. Having a skilled negotiator handling all insurance communications is the best way to ensure success in your case. Insurance companies know they cannot use the same tactics on our experienced attorneys as they might use against injured claimants.
Call Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos Today About Hiring a San Jose Dog Bite Attorney
A dog bite lawyer from our personal injury law firm in San Jose is ready to seek justice for you right now.
Evidence related to your case may become lost or unusable if we wait to collect it, so we encourage you to retain our team as soon as possible. We also face a specific deadline for filing your case if a lawsuit becomes necessary, so contact us as soon as possible.
Contact us at Galine, Frye, Fitting & Frangos, LLP today at (408) 317-7393 for your free consultation. We can assess your best legal options for seeking compensation for your dog bite-related losses.
Thank you so much for all of your legal help on my case. I’ve really enjoyed working with you and your professional team including Lisa and Mavis. I also appreciate your efforts in reaching a settlement on my behalf. I will definitely refer my clients and friends to your firm they are in need of legal representation in the future. Regards.
- ADRIAN C.