Paul Sullivan

Dog Bite Injuries

Dog attacks can cause painful and lasting injuries for the victims. The owners of dogs who bites bystanders are held strictly liable. This means that even if the owner was trying to control the dog, and took adequate precautions, they can still be held liable for the damage that their dogs cause.

If you’ve read other articles on our site, you know that this is a departure from the common standard. Usually, you have to prove that the other party was negligent before they can be held responsible. In the case of dog bites though, the statute creates strict liability so negligence is not an issue. The law does impose a few other restrictions though.

The law only applies within an incorporated city or town. Also, the victim must either be in a public place, or be lawfully in a private place. The upside of this is that if your dog attacks a burglar who is robbing your house, the thief can’t turn around and sue you for his injuries. But, if you are walking down the street and a dog bites you, you probably have a cause of action against the owner. So long as you meet the next requirement, which is that the dog attacked without provocation. The law will not protect someone who harasses a dog and then is attacked because of it.

Law suits in dog bite cases often focus on whether the victim harassed the dog, and whether they were trespassing at the time of the attack. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has had very few chances to address this law meaning that we don’t have a tremendous amount of guidance. But we do know a few things. In one case, a man had his hands over his neighbor’s fence. The neighbor warned him to remove his hands from the fence prior to the dog bite attack, but the man did not remove his hands. The Supreme Court ruled that this did not make him a trespasser and he could still recover for his injuries. In the same case, the man who was attacked had chased the dog with a fence post four to six weeks before the attack. The Supreme Court ruled that this did not qualify as “provocation” under the dog bite laws. While I would never recommend either course of action, it does give some idea for when the statute continues to apply.

Dog bites cause immediate physical pain, can result in the need for surgery or other rehabilitation, and often include severe psychological trauma. Dealing with the fallout from an animal attack requires skill and a delicate touch. If you or your child has been injured by a dog or animal attack, please consider calling us today for a free consultation.

Motorcycle Accidents

Texas is an enormous state with seemingly endless miles of road and beautiful scenery. What could be better for motorcycle riding? Unfortunately, the freedom that comes on two wheels also comes with a price. Careless and negligent drivers are no safer because you are riding a motorcycle and significantly more vulnerable. Instead, a beautiful ride can turn ugly when an inattentive driver causes a motorcycle accident. Motorcycle accidents often involve a combination of inattentive motorists and the fact that motorcycles are usually smaller than other vehicles on the road. And, they are likely to result in major injuries such as head injuries, spinal cord injuries, and sometimes death.

In 2008 there were 5,290 fatalities resulting from motorcycle accidents in the United States. Over 96,000 people were injured in motorcycle crashes during that same time period. 41% of those who died were not wearing a helmet. According to 2007 statistics, motorcyclists were about 37 times more likely than automobile occupants to die in a motor vehicle crash when you factor in the death rate per number of miles travelled. Motorcyclists were 9 times more likely to be injured in a crash than a passenger car occupant.

The fun and freedom that comes with riding a motorcycle is unfortunately coupled with a real risk from other drivers on the road. When you’re injured because someone else made a mistake, law allows you to recover the damages that you suffer. And those damages can include more than just your medical bills and the cost to fix your motorcycle. If you’ve been injured in a motorcycle accident, please consider calling a motorcycle injury lawyer immediately. There are important time limits that make acting quickly important. Obviously, I hope you’ll call the motorcycle injury lawyers at our firm,  but whoever you choose I wish you a speedy and full recovery.

Negligence

Negligence is a legal concept that anyone who has been injured is likely to hear a lot about. It is central to injury law across the country. Broadly speaking, negligence is a failure to exercise reasonable care. The law likes to talk about reasonableness and pretend that it is a concept that can be described concretely. You can think of reasonable care as the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in the same situation.

The basic idea behind negligence is that everyone should exercise reasonable care when they act, and doing that means taking into account the potential harm their actions could foreseeably cause others. Those who fail to take reasonable care, are liable for the reasonably foreseeable results of their actions. So, for example, if you fail to tie down some furniture in the back of your pick-up truck which then falls out while you’re driving down the highway and hits the driver behind you, you were negligent and responsible for the foreseeable results of your actions. And since it doesn’t take a Stephen King to imagine that driving with loose furniture could be a danger to those behind you, the damages you caused were probably foreseeable.

But often, it’s not so clear whether or not someone was negligent. In that situation, it may take a Court to determine whether a party was negligent and liable for the damage they caused. Injury lawsuits can be fought over liability, damages, or both. If the parties are arguing over whether someone was negligent, they are arguing over liability.

The thing to remember is that when you go out in the world, you are expected to behave in a reasonably prudent manner. Be careful. And watch out for everyone else too. The law may presume that people will act with reasonable care, but you’ll probably be safer if you assume the opposite.