Dog Bites
Posted on 19th July 2019 at 13:24
The Dangerous Dogs Act was introduced in 1991, 28 years ago, with the aim of reducing the number of dog attacks. It banned four breeds of dogs from the UK, namely;
• Pit Bull Terrier
• Japanese Tosa
• Dogo Argentino
• Fila Brasilerio
Statistics have shown however that dog attacks continue to rise . . .
In 2014/2015 dog bites were recorded as being up by 76% over the previous decade.
The Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog welfare charity is focused on preventative measures to keep adults and children safe around dogs. Organisations such as this do great work, but there will always be irresponsible dog owners who allow these incidents to continue to happen.
In my experience dog attacks have occurred frequently in situations where an owner has let its dog of its lead when others were present even when they knew that the dog had a propensity to bite. I recently acted for a client who was bitten in similar circumstances. He reported the matter to the police and the owner was fined by the Court and made to pay £2,000.00 in compensation to my client. After receiving the compensation my client thought no more about the incident until I told him that he was entitled to bring a civil claim against the owner. I did that on his behalf and recovered a further £5,500 to properly compensate him for the injuries he had suffered.
If you have been bitten by a dog in the last three years’ then you will be entitled to bring a claim against the dog owner. More often than not the owner will have a policy of home insurance which will cover a claim of this type so that you do not need to rely upon a payment of compensation directly from the owner themselves.
David Cartwright
Personal Injury Solicitor
For further information, click here
Tagged as: Personal Injury
Share this post: