Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Such tort cases are almost always handled on a contigency fee basis, so they were not giving you special treatment. How much equity is there in the house, was there any connection between the dog and their car [jumped out of the car to attack your husband?], what other assets do they have [jewelry, stock, pension plans that can be drawn on], how much do they earn, do either have a business with insurance and they do some of their work at home? You can still get a judgment against them and then go after the unprotected part of the eages and against the rest of the assets. A judgment is good for 10 years and can be renewed, so even if their house has no equity it might in a decade. There is strict liability for a dog bite--it is assumed the bite came from the negligence of the dog/owner unless your husband was going onto their property. Was the dog also owned by someone else?

You should get the law firm to see what they can get from the dog's owner. They should sue to get a judgment if they can not settle. Your's is a fairly straight forward case that should not cost that much to obtain a judgment. If your current firm will not do anything you should switch lawyers. Some of us work on an hourly basis but charge much less than the average rate because we are semi-retired.

You and your husband should consult another lawyer as soon as possible if your current attorneys are unwilling to further handle your case. Almost all dog bite cases are handled on contingency basis, therefore you would not need to pay up front. There may be other facts that your attorneys did not consider. Your current or new attorneys should run an asset search on the dog owners to see if they are or will be able to pay for your husband's damages. Ask your attorneys if they ran an asset search, and if not tell them to do it. Our office handles dog bite cases. We have helped numerous individuals in your situation. We would be happy to discuss this case with you further if your attorneys are no longer willing to assist you and your husband. Feel free to contact us at (310) 277-0997 or e-mail to [email protected].

I think the two attorneys who have answered previously are not paying attention to your zip code, which is one of the most economically depressed areas of the state, and pretty much ground zero for the real estate crater in California. Of course Mr. Shers even somehow thinks this had something to do with a car. The bottom line is that the attorneys you talked to do not believe they can economically pursue the case without an insurance company to pay a settlement or judgment. You say the dog owner owns his home outright, but in that area it may not be worth anywhere near enough to satisfy a judgment, particularly since it would be subject to an automatic homestead exemption that would have to be deducted before the first dollar could be applied to a judgment. In your zipcode a lot of the houses aren't even worth enough to max out the homestead. And of course the homeowner could simply file for bankruptcy and probably keep the house outright. And the last problem is that unless he has liquid assets, he can't pay a settlement. So to collect you have to get a judgment and then go to all the trouble and expense of collections. There is just no way for an attorney to earn a living by taking a case like that on contingency. And there is no point in you paying for it on an hourly basis, since at BEST you'll collect a little more than it would cost you. And as for why you have homeowners insurance, it is to protect your assets from casualties like fire. If it's not worth enough to insure for that, then you probably don't need the liability coverage either. Just file bankruptcy if you are sued. But if you want to rebuild your house if it catches fire, I guess you'll need to keep the insurance.