My GF's Brother-In-Law (their restaurant delivery driver) got bit by an unregistered pitbull. I had to fill in as delivery driver yesterday while he went to the hospital. He got bit twice by the dog, and needs shots. The police filled out a police report, and there are pictures and medical records. Anyone know a lawyer that could help out with this? It happened in Linden. We figure we could press charges against that family. That dog should be put down as well, as it has attacked both the GF's B-I-L and the GF's sister as well. It didn't harm the sister but it still attacked her once.

Look for a lawyer in Manhattan. I don't know any but usually the lawyers in the city are money hungry.

 

Also, I wouldn't deliver there anymore. I would also contact their Insurance company.

Was the perp still on his property. No criminal activity here. Since there was previous bites, I see some civil liability here. Plenty of Lawyers looking for work. Good luck. Hope to see the case on People's Court.

I don't know of any dog bite lawyers, but I found this law:

 

NJSA 4:19-16. Liability of owner regardless of viciousness of dog

 

The owner of any dog which shall bite a person while such person is on or in a public place, or lawfully on or in a private place, including the property of the owner of the dog, shall be liable for such damages as may be suffered by the person bitten, regardless of the former viciousness of such dog or the owner's knowledge of such viciousness.

For the purpose of this section, a person is lawfully upon the private property of such owner when he is on the property in the performance of any duty imposed upon him by the laws of this state or the laws or postal regulations of the United States, or when he is on such property upon the invitation, express or implied, of the owner thereof.

 

To recover under N.J.S.A. 4:19-16, a plaintiff must prove only that the defendant owned the dog, that the dog bit the plaintiff, and that the plaintiff was in a public place or lawfully on the owner's property. --From Website

 

This is a "strict liability" statute. Which means any lawyer with a pulse should be able to win a case where someone is bitten and the bitten person isn't doing anything wrong.

Dog bites are almost always settled. Very rarely is a dog owner foolish enough to take his chances with a jury, since dog bites are strict liability issues. Any lawyer that specializes in personal injury should be able to help. Some even specialize in dog bite cases (these are the ones that get the highest awards/settlements).

being a delivery driver he should carry pepper spray.Also giving the dog a small dog biscuit on deliverys may be a deterrent..

What is a registered Pitbull? Is that something in their town ordinance?

What is a registered Pitbull? Is that something in their town ordinance?

 

 

I was wondering the same thing.. what this nonsense about registering a dog is...

I was wondering the same thing.. what this nonsense about registering a dog is...

 

Licensed?

What are the damages? My wife's firm had a case where a postal worker was bit by a pitbull on her breast causing a lot of damage. Some permanent. She received a hefty settlement.

 

The law basically says you need to be made "whole" again. Right now, from your post, the damages are 1 days pay and the medical bills. If your GF's BIL heals up fine and insurance pays his medical bills and is back at work then there not enough damages to interest most lawyers. Hopefully, there was no permanent disfigurement but if there was, that would lead to a better claim. Call around various personal injury firms. My wife says people call day with all kinds of cases. Most they reject but some they take. My wife says I can't give her firm's name out because she is already swamped and wants less work, not more.

What are the damages? My wife's firm had a case where a postal worker was bit by a pitbull on her breast causing a lot of damage. Some permanent. She received a hefty settlement.

 

The law basically says you need to be made "whole" again. Right now, from your post, the damages are 1 days pay and the medical bills. If your GF's BIL heals up fine and insurance pays his medical bills and is back at work then there not enough damages to interest most lawyers. Hopefully, there was no permanent disfigurement but if there was, that would lead to a better claim. Call around various personal injury firms. My wife says people call day with all kinds of cases. Most they reject but some they take. My wife says I can't give her firm's name out because she is already swamped and wants less work, not more.

 

 

No.

 

There's almost always award/consideration of damages for pain and suffering, emotional damage/distress (a future fear of dogs that the victim didn't have prior to the attack), damages to career and liberty to engage in your chosen profession (if the victim has to change professions out of a heightened fear that he'll be bitten by snother dog) as well as punitive damages (damages to acknowledge that this was "wrong" and to deter others from committing the same behavior). With a dog bite from an unlicensed dog (possibly higher punitive damages) that results in hospitalization and unwanted shots (possibly rabies shots which are very painful) there should be enough here to interest any attorney.

No.

 

There's almost always award/consideration of damages for pain and suffering, emotional damage/distress (a future fear of dogs that the victim didn't have prior to the attack), damages to career and liberty to engage in your chosen profession (if the victim has to change professions out of a heightened fear that he'll be bitten by snother dog) as well as punitive damages (damages to acknowledge that this was "wrong" and to deter others from committing the same behavior). With a dog bite from an unlicensed dog (possibly higher punitive damages) that results in hospitalization and unwanted shots (possibly rabies shots which are very painful) there should be enough here to interest any attorney.

 

 

you just in one short paragraph illustrated everything that is wrong with our sue happy society.. yeah.. people shouldn't let their dogs bite people.. I agree... completely.. but a small dog bite should not equate to a fraction of what you have listed..IMO..

 

we are talking about what sounds like a relatively small dog bite here (NOT saying that makes it right)... not some toddler being mauled by some grizzly bear..

When I see people (usually lawyers) add all that junk like pain and suffering, emotional distress I usually think is this how the people who founded the country wanted us to live? Basically the pussification of America. Rememeber the days when you had a problem with a coworker you duked it out in the parking lot, came inside and were buddies 2 weeks later. I yearn for those days.

Unregistered dog as in unlicensed, no shots, no medical record, etc. This happened on the owner's property. He's definitely out of work for at least a couple of days. He was bitten on the leg and the arm. Definitely a lot of pain. Not sure what else as I didn't ask about the extent of the injuries. Still with a pitbull that has a history of attacks, something needs to be done.

 

Dog registration is mandatory in NJ:

http://www.state.nj.us/nj/community/community/dog_licenses.html

 

It basically proves that the dog has been immunized and does not have rabies.

No.

 

There's almost always award/consideration of damages for pain and suffering, emotional damage/distress (a future fear of dogs that the victim didn't have prior to the attack), damages to career and liberty to engage in your chosen profession (if the victim has to change professions out of a heightened fear that he'll be bitten by snother dog) as well as punitive damages (damages to acknowledge that this was "wrong" and to deter others from committing the same behavior). With a dog bite from an unlicensed dog (possibly higher punitive damages) that results in hospitalization and unwanted shots (possibly rabies shots which are very painful) there should be enough here to interest any attorney.

 

 

Like I said, call around different PI lawyers and see if any are interested in the case.

For all those "pussification of America," "lawyers make people sue too much/get greedy," and "our forefathers never envisioned this" people, please keep this in mind:

 

Tort law is designed to keep people from taking the law into their own hands. Yes, sometimes it's better to just go out into the parking lot and beat the snot out of each other. That works great when both parties have a lot of pent up energy to vent or when both parties want to act out their aggression. But what if KrdShark's BIL decided that because there was no way to be remedied for being bitten, he just went over and shot the person's dog in front of their kids and shot the owner for good measure? Is that a better, "tougher 'merica" for you? Should we go back to dueling, maybe? Or can we go back to Capulet and Montague-style blood feuds?

 

Also, the damages for torts are determined by juries of your peers. They decide how much you've been injured and for what injuries you can recover. It's a way for society to punish the wrongdoer, acknowledge the victim's injury and help protect future societal order by punishing wrongdoers without putting them in jail. When word gets out about what there is to lose when a person who owns a dog that is unlicensed and has a history of attacks keeps that dog and the dog attacks again, hopefully people think twice about keeping unlicensed, aggressive dogs. The fine for keeping an unlicensed dog is something like $57. I don't think that would stop people from keeping unlicensed/aggressive dogs.

 

Finally, tort law is an inheritence from English Common Law, of which our forefathers were intimately aware. Lawsuits sounding in torts (as well as punitive damages!!!) are older than our republic and fully contemplated by our forefathers. As for the development of an award for pain and suffering, those awards are supposed to be kept in check by the jury's award (runaway jury awards are WAY less frequent than you would think). Also, the common law is designed to adapt to what society deems appropriate as awards for wrongs done. Thus, even if pain and suffering damages weren't around in 1776, society has adapted to recognize that people should be compensated for being put through pain.

 

I hope nobody here experiences "pain and suffering" that a jury would award damages for, but I also ask you to keep your mind open to the possibility that there is an amount of pain and suffering that someone can go through where it may be right to recognize the pain (no, money can't take away pain, but the award is a societal acknowledgement and a way of "hurting" the offending party without beating them or doing the out-dated "eye-for-an-eye" routine).

We all know the horror story of Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, and I don't think there's anyone on this board that would defend that award.

 

That said, when the doctor cuts off the wrong leg, arm, finger, breast, whatever - that's pain and suffering and should be compensated accordingly.

 

Torts are out of control, we truly need tort reform, not to eliminate it, but to reform it. We also need to abolish frivolous lawsuits.

We all know the horror story of Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, and I don't think there's anyone on this board that would defend that award.

 

That said, when the doctor cuts off the wrong leg, arm, finger, breast, whatever - that's pain and suffering and should be compensated accordingly.

 

Torts are out of control, we truly need tort reform, not to eliminate it, but to reform it. We also need to abolish frivolous lawsuits.

 

 

this...

 

trip over a rock trying to get away from the dog and have it maul and attack you.. yeah.. that is terrifying and deserving of something like that.. the guy was bit by a dog.. and it is not up to me to decide "how hurt" he has to be.. but it doesn't really sound like he is laying awake in night in terror.. it sounds like he got bit.. it sucked.. and he had to go to the Dr... and yeah he should be compensated.. but the whole extreme that it COULD go to is what I see the issue with..

My GF's Brother-In-Law (their restaurant delivery driver) got bit by an unregistered pitbull. I had to fill in as delivery driver yesterday while he went to the hospital. He got bit twice by the dog, and needs shots. The police filled out a police report, and there are pictures and medical records. Anyone know a lawyer that could help out with this? It happened in Linden. We figure we could press charges against that family. That dog should be put down as well, as it has attacked both the GF's B-I-L and the GF's sister as well. It didn't harm the sister but it still attacked her once.

 

 

 

PM sent

My town requires you to license your dog every year, if you miss the deadline they hit you with a fine.

 

No offense to those who may disagree, but i like many others deliver to peoples houses, and i like many others have encountered many dogs. Personally, i have never been bitten, but then again they were all very nice dogs. My point is, if you have a dog, no matter the breed, and you know there is a possibility of it bitting someone, then by all means if it bites some one, you should get the **** sued out of you, especially if the person bit has to go to the hospital. The fact the dog was unlicensed shows the disregard the owners have/had in the first place.

 

Pits get a lot of bad rep becuase of the owner, i have met dozens of friendly lovely pitbulls, and there one of my favorite breeds. I say, if the dog has to be put down, the owner should be put down aswell.

The point of all this is not to sue the living daylights out of them. It's to get them to pay for the time lost and medical expenses. Also to remove a dangerous dog from the property and to make sure the irresponsible owners get what's coming to them.

They should be charged with an unregistered APB, Assault Pit Bull.

 

This kind of thing makes me sick. Clearly the owner's negligence caused the bite, along with the dog paying the ultimate price of it.

We all know the horror story of Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, and I don't think there's anyone on this board that would defend that award.

 

That said, when the doctor cuts off the wrong leg, arm, finger, breast, whatever - that's pain and suffering and should be compensated accordingly.

 

Torts are out of control, we truly need tort reform, not to eliminate it, but to reform it. We also need to abolish frivolous lawsuits.

The way to stop frivolous lawsuits is to automatically require the plaintiff to pay the defendants legal fees if the defendant substantially prevails in a suit. This would allow truly egregious behavior to be punished, but would curtail a lot of frivolous cases where the plaintiff wouldn't want to risk losing a lot of money.

The way to stop frivolous lawsuits is to automatically require the plaintiff to pay the defendants legal fees if the defendant substantially prevails in a suit. This would allow truly egregious behavior to be punished, but would curtail a lot of frivolous cases where the plaintiff wouldn't want to risk losing a lot of money.

isn't it like that in England?

isn't it like that in England?

Not sure about England, but most of Europe is that way and a lot less sue happy.