Are you an Alabama resident who has suffered injuries because your neighbor or someone else couldn’t restrain their dog?
With injuries, disputes with the owner, and seeking medical attention, this can be a confusing time.
Maxwell Tillman provides victims with a dog bite lawyer in Birmingham for urgent legal representation in cases such as yours. We have a 97.7% success rate with the personal injury cases we handle.
With a focus on dog laws here in Alabama, let us explain the next steps you should take to secure the compensation you deserve.
As you brace for what might be a contested battle for your compensation, it’s wisest to have legal representation.
Your attorney will argue your case and demonstrate the offending party’s negligence. While the dog owner attempts to make it appear as though you were at fault, your lawyer bares the facts of the case to show that you were legally wronged.
It’s best to find a lawyer immediately after the incident. Although it may seem difficult, try to be careful in how you evaluate the lawyers you may work with.
Find out if they have proven experience with cases similar to yours, and look into their track record.
The outcome of your trial heavily depends on the facts of the case and how they’re presented. Once you’ve found a dog bite lawyer in Birmingham, the next step is working with them to have a clear picture of what took place.
This also serves as the foundation of custom legal strategies.
When recounting the facts of the case, it’s best if you have at least a basic grasp of Alabama dog bite law.
The court will award you compensation if you can prove that you sustained injuries from your neighbor’s dog along with satisfying three other conditions. These are set out in Chapter 6 of the Code of Alabama.
They are:
For you to qualify for compensation, your lawyer needs to prove that you did not do anything to provoke the dog before getting bitten. This includes actions such as pulling its tail, poking the dog, or making purposely threatening gestures.
If it is found that you provoked the dog into attacking you, liability for the incident shifts from the owner to you.
With a qualified dog bite lawyer in Birmingham, you’ll be able to effectively defend your position in court, making a successful outcome likelier.
Secondly, you will need to also prove that the attack happened on either of these two:
In either of these cases, the owner fell short of their duty of care to you by failing to restrain their dog.
This, again, is something you can establish with your dog bite lawyer.
It makes it likelier that you’ll be awarded compensation if the owner should have known that their dog is prone to harmful attacks. A dog bite lawyer in Birmingham can show that the owner should have known this through the dog’s breed or behavioral signs.
Dog owners have further duties, which you can find in Article B of the Birmingham Code of Ordinances.
These cover such details as proper restraint of dogs, which may be a relevant consideration in your case.
Maxwell Tillman can provide you with a dog bite lawyer who will represent you all the way to trial. We have a 97.7% success rate with personal injury cases, including those involving dog bites. And we have been recognized as one of the top personal injury and trial lawyers in the country.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation and receive the compensation that’s yours.
