Legal Question in Personal Injury in North Carolina
Dog Bite and Owener of Dog not Co-orperating
The injured party was walking to the laundry when a dog escaped attn of the owner and attacked.Photographs of the bruise marks and injury is
available. The owner initially agreed to pay for all medical expenses. The injured was taken to emergency where they asked her if the dog's owner kept
documents of vaccination of the dog. When owner was contacted he did not respond with any documents and initially said could not locate them.Hence
daoctors suggested to take the full course of rabies injections (6-7 courses). Hence , injured had to initiate course of injections.After 2 days
, owner comes back with papers for the dog (Oct 30th). The police records for this are available. He has paid 3 of the bills in cash...Now he is not
coorperating to pay for the remaining bills.
Questions :
a) Can I sue for damages ?
b) The injured is currently out of country , but can her power of attorney
sue the owner of dog.?
c) Is there a time period before which the injured can sue.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Dog Bite and Owener of Dog not Co-orperating
Generally speaking, to sue the owner (or other custodian) of the dog, you would have to show "negligence" (i.e. there is no strict liability, but a violation of an applicable leash law may help your cause). Negligence in this context is usually a history of the dog biting people. Some more recent law suggests that if the dog has a dangerous propensity (e.g. Doberman), then the owner can be held liable even without a prior attack. Usually proving negligence is no small task. Assuming, however, you can show negligence by the owner, then you can recover your medical bills, "pain and suffering," and any other provable damages (e.g. lost earnings). The Statute of Limitations is probably 3 years; you are not required to wait to sue. As for suing with power of attorney, I don't know, but that sounds rather peculiar, from the ethical standpoint and the pragmatic standpoint. Also, use some caution in accepting cash for the medical bills; you don't want to have the owner assert that the claim was settled (i.e. "accord and satisfaction").
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