Attorney Barry Regar, of the law office of Barry Regar APLC, recently secured a $300,000 settlement on behalf of a 45-year old Palm Springs woman who was attacked by a dog while at work. Our client was bitten in her left upper extremity by a pit bull belonging to the son of the owner of the store she worked at.
Allegedly, the dog had been kept in the utility room of the store for several hours before the attack occurred. Our client entered the utility room and was immediately attacked by the pit bill, receiving bites on her left forearm and hand. She was immediately taken to the nearest hospital, where she underwent surgery for the wounds and was left with residual complaints relative to her left hand and forearm. In total, our client suffered $25,500 in damages for missing work and medical bills.
While our client was an employee of the defendant’s store at the time of the dog bite, the store owner did not have workers’ compensation insurance—which turned out to be a good thing. If the defendant had workers’ comp, our client would not have been able to sue the store owner for negligence, and would have had to proceed through the worker’s comp system as an injured employee.(California Labor Code Section 3200-6208).
Unfortunately, workers’ comp is restrictive as to the actual monetary recovery that can be made by the injured worker as to pain and suffering and scaring. A personal injury lawsuit allowed us to recover a $300,000.00 settlement, although there was no evidence that the store owner had knowledge of the “vicious propensities” of the dog before the date of the attack. However, the owner of a dog that bites a victim is responsible for any injuries inflicted by the dog, regardless of knowledge about the dog’s dangerous propensities, according to California law [California Civil Code Section 3342(a)].
Call Attorney Barry Regar Today!
Attorney Regar has over 40 years of personal injury experience and verdicts and settlements exceeding $74 million. If you need experience, ability, dedication, aggressiveness and honesty, call our Palm Springs dog bite attorney today at (760) 440-5643 for a free consultation.