What Happens When A Dog Bites My Child In Virginia?
Key Highlights:
- If you’re asking yourself, “What happens when a dog bites my child in Virginia?” the first things you need to do are get medical attention for your child, calm them, make a report, and then call (800) 529-0804 to talk to a lawyer.
- There are no out-of-pocket costs when hiring our law firm, as we work entirely on a contingency fee basis.
- We ensure that your case is valued accurately so that your family will have the funds to provide future reconstructive surgery, scar revision, and therapy.
- We know how to stop common insurance tricks such as issuing fast, lowball settlement offers or wrongfully placing blame on the young child.
Getting bitten by a dog can make the average day seem like a scary blur. If you are wondering, “What Happens When A Dog Bites My Child In Virginia?” The answer is to take a deep breath. Your priority should be to immediately take the child to a hospital and offer some reassurance to them. Any legal or financial questions can come later.
In this blog, we, Tatum & Atkinson Law Firm, will be discussing information regarding the immediate steps after the accident, the types of injuries to look for and the risks of those injuries, Virginia dog bite laws, and the amount of money available through a claim for the injured child.
For further information or to get your case evaluated by our experienced dog bite lawyer Virginia, contact us at (800) 529-0804.
First Steps After a Dog Bite
Here are the steps you should follow if your child gets bitten by a dog:
Get Medical Care First: Even for a Small Wound
Even minor bites can lead to severe bacterial infections underneath the skin. The medical practitioners should check your child’s wound, determine whether stitches will be required, and verify whether your child is current with his/her tetanus shots. In case you are unsure of the dog’s status regarding having been vaccinated against rabies, consult your doctor regarding the possibility of rabies. Keep all your medical records since they are essential for making your insurance claim.
Find Out Who Owns the Dog
Collect the name, address, telephone number, and proof of rabies vaccination from the owner of the dog. Request for contact details of the people who may have witnessed the bite. In Virginia, knowing if a dog has bitten before holds a lot of value for your claim.
Report the Bite to Animal Control
File a complaint at your local animal control department or health department to create a record of the accident. This will help identify any previous complaints about the dog if they exist, and this may help protect other children from similar incidents. This report is important because it may also serve as evidence.
Photograph Everything and Write It Down
Document the incident by taking photographs of child dog bite injury Virginia, the scene of the incident, and the dog, if possible. Compose a detailed description of the incident immediately following the incident with the exact location, actions of the dog, and names of witnesses.
Injuries Children Suffer in Dog Attacks
In comparison to adults, children generally take more bites and suffer from much greater injuries as a result of those bites. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, most dog bite victims are kids, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that approximately 4.7 million dog bites happen in the United States every year. The odds of developing damage are greater for kids than for adults due to the size difference between the dog and the child.
Bites to the Face, Head, and Neck
Children who are bitten usually sustain injuries to their face, head, and neck. These injuries are often severe and may require reconstructive surgery or scar revision surgery. Furthermore, an injury to these areas could result in a permanent scar or nerve damage, which can affect a child’s appearance for the rest of their life.
Infection and Disease Risk
The bacteria in a dog’s mouth can cause serious infections, such as Pasteurella, and less commonly, Capnocytophaga. Rabies is also a potential threat, which is why vaccination status is so important when it comes to protecting your child. In addition to watching for spreading redness and swelling around the bite area, also keep watch for other symptoms such as fever or pus, and return to a doctor as soon as possible.
Emotional and Psychological Trauma
Most people do not realize that an emotional or psychological injury can occur as a result of being bitten by a dog. Many children will develop a fear of dogs and experience nightmares, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress (PTSD) as a result of this trauma. While counseling may help, this cost is incurred as part of your child’s total damages.
How Virginia’s Dog-Bite Law Actually Works
What many sites get wrong is that Virginia is not a strict liability state for dog bites. An owner is not automatically responsible if their dog bites your child; you must be able to prove that one of the following three scenarios occurred.
The One-Bite Rule: What the Owner Knew
Under Virginia’s “one-bite” rule, an owner is liable if they knew or should have known that their dog had dangerous tendencies and failed to take action to prevent harm to others. This standard matches the framework of Va. Code § 3.2-6540, which governs how the state officially classifies and registers “dangerous dogs” after an aggressive incident. If a dog has bitten someone in the past or exhibited other aggressive behavior like growling, lunging, or pulling on its leash, the owner would be on notice that his/her dog may have dangerous tendencies.
Negligence and Broken Leash Laws
Even without prior examples of aggression, an owner can still be liable for negligence per se and for breaching local leash laws. Most localities in Virginia mandate that dogs must be on a leash or otherwise under the owner’s control at all times. If an owner fails to follow these statutes and a minor is injured, that violation may be sufficient for establishing their negligence.
The 1% Rule and Why It Rarely Traps a Young Child
Virginia uses the principle of pure contributory negligence: if a person injured is at least partially to blame for the injury (even by 1%), recovery can be totally barred. Insurers greatly rely on this, and heavy hitters do as well. But it has a very different effect on kids than it does on adults. In Virginia, the law says that children under age 7 can have no fault whatsoever in an injury, and children ages 7-14 are presumed to have no fault. This presumption is one of the most important things for a parent to know.
Who Is Liable For A Dog Bite In Virginia
There can be more parties who could be held responsible for a dog bite injury in the state of Virginia, and it is crucial to determine the party that could be responsible when making the claim. Determining the liable party is crucial in making such a claim:
The Dog’s Owner
The dog owner is usually the responsible person for an injury caused by a dog due to one of three primary methods of determining liability:
- Virginia One-Bite Rule
- ordinary negligence (usually applicable)
- and violation of a leash law.
A Landlord, Property Owner, or Caretaker
A landlord who knows of a tenant’s ownership of a dangerous dog (Va. Code § 3.2-6540) and who otherwise has the ability to remove that dog will share liability with that tenant. So too will a property owner who has allowed a dog that has a documented history of aggression onto their property. A dog-sitter, dog-walker, or dog-keeper may also share liability for an injury caused by a dog if their failure to properly care for the dog directly resulted in the attack.
Evidence and Insurance
Evidence that strengthens your child’s claim includes:
- Animal-control investigation report, medical documentation
- Event and injury documentation (photo)
- Witness names and statements
- Prior dog-bite incidents or aggressive behaviors
- Local leash-law violations upon which the attack was based
Which Insurance Usually Pays
Homeowners’ or dog owners’ insurance policies are most likely to provide coverage for a dog-bite claim, not their own pockets. It’s important to remember this if the dog belongs to a relative or friend. Some insurance companies will not cover certain breeds or any type of animal, so a quick review of the policy will provide an early indication of whether there is coverage.
Compensation for an Injured Child
When you file a claim, you are requesting dog bite compensation to cover the cost of your child’s injury now and in the future. This could include:
- Medical attention (including emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and surgery)
- Future medical treatment (including scar revisions)
- Emotional damage (counseling and therapy)
- Physical damage (pain and suffering)
- Out-of-pocket expenses that parents have already incurred
The value of the claim will vary based on the severity of the condition, location of the scars, age of the child, and the amount of treatment necessary.
“Based on my experience, the largest mistake when settling a claim is doing so before knowing how much more surgery the child may require in later years.” – Robert Tatum
Virginia’s Deadlines for a Child’s Claim
Virginia Law allows two years to bring a personal injury lawsuit under Virginia Code § 8.01-243. Typically, where a child is involved, the statute does not start to run until the child reaches 18 years of age.
Therefore, they generally have until before their 20th birthday to bring suit. (See Virginia Code § 8.01-229). If the parents of the injured child have paid for any medical expenses associated with the child’s injury, they have a separate, shorter time frame to recover their expenses from the defendant.
Get a Free Consultation with a Virginia Dog-Bite Lawyer
You may be worrying about your child who has been bitten by a dog, making appointments with different doctors, being scared, and having questions like “what happens when a dog bites my child in Virginia?”. Not knowing is normal, and you do not have to figure out everything on your own; that’s where we come in.
Tatum & Atkinson is a personal injury law firm that represents clients in Virginia. The Heavy Hitters have a good understanding of how insurance companies handle these types of claims (for example, they often start with a quick lowball offer, a provocation argument, or a 1% offer) and know how to respond to them. Tatum & Atkinson can help you with obtaining the medical and ownership history you will need to build a strong case for your child and pursue the compensation your child needs to recover.
Call (800) 529-0804 to schedule a free consultation. We work on a contingency basis, meaning there is no fee until we recover funds for your family. Your first call is free with no obligation.
FAQs: What Happens When A Dog Bites My Child In Virginia
My child was bitten by a friend’s or relative’s dog. Do we really have to file a claim?
Most dog bite claims are paid by the dog owner’s, homeowner’s, or renter’s insurance policy. When you pursue the claim, your friend’s insurance company will pay for your child’s medical expenses; therefore, while you are protecting your child, you will not be hurting your friend.
The dog had never bitten anyone before. Do we have a case?
Possible. The one-bite rule is more difficult if there is no prior bite by the dog, but that does not matter solely because of the dog’s past. If the owner had a violation of a leash law or reasonable care, there is still liability for failure to provide proper care.
Could my child be blamed for provoking the dog?
Insurers will regularly attempt this; however, this generally does not work with young kids. A kid under seven cannot be held responsible, and a child under fourteen is presumed innocent. With older kids, you will also require strong evidence to prove that they were not the cause of an accident.
What does a dog-bite lawyer cost?
No cost upfront. The consultations are free, and personal injury law firms operate on a contingency fee basis, meaning you don’t pay unless we recover compensation for your child.
Will we have to go to court?
Most cases involving dog bites get settled out of court; therefore, if you were not offered a reasonably acceptable Virginia dog bite settlement for a child, the ability to file suit gives the case legitimacy (or weight). Many times, the settlement provided to a minor is also subject to a court review process to ensure it serves the minor.
