Costs of a Dog Bite Lawsuit
In most cases, pet owners are held liable for all the acts of their pets. Likewise, dog owners are responsible for all dog bite and dog bite lawsuit. Therefore, if your dog bites someone, you as the owner of the dog will be held liable and you will be required to pay compensation to the victim of the dog bite. You will be required to pay all medical bills and loss of wages among other damages that might be awarded by the court. In addition, if you were negligent with your dog, for example, if you let it go loose, you might be liable to punitive damages and criminal charges, depending on the circumstances.
Dog bite law suits usually have various costs attached to them, and these usually depend on each individual case. A simple dog bite or one where basic medical care and some time off work is needed, is usually handled in a small claims court. It is referred to as a simple dog bite case, because there is no possibility of permanent damage. In most cases, these small claims are handled without lawyers. The claimant will be required to pay court fees ranging between twenty dollars and three hundred and twenty dollars. However, if the claimant wins the case, he is entitles to be repaid these costs by the defendant.
Under certain circumstances, the dog bite lawyers might be willing to work on a contingency basis for your dog bite law suit. In other words, they agree that they will not get paid until you are paid. This is common in dog bite lawsuits that involve major incidents of dog bites. Therefore, if you suffer serious injury and need to pay high hospital bills, you do not need to worry about having to pay your lawyer, as well. All you require to do is reach an agreement that states that the lawyer will only receive payment after you have received damages. Therefore, if you do not win the case and do not get damages, the lawyer will also not be entitled to any legal fees. However, if you do win the case, the lawyer will be entitled to a certain percentage of your damages. In most cases, the lawyers ask for between thirty and forty percent of the money received.
Other costs that you need to take into consideration include court costs, investigation charges and fees for expert witnesses. In most cases, you can ask your lawyer to pay for these and then you can reimburse him at the end of the case. These costs range between one thousand dollars and two thousand dollars. However, they might go higher with the more complicated a case becomes. In other words, the severe, the injury that is suffered, and the more the costs you are supposed to pay.
In most cases, dog bite lawyer hourly fees range between one hundred dollars and three hundred dollars. However, these fees might go up or down conditional on the circumstances of each case. Lawyers are usually willing to take your case in a contingency base. If you cannot find a dog bite lawyer to do so, this is an indication that you do not have a good case.