The Laws Governing Dog Bite Cases Explained By A Personal Injury Lawyer In Mississauga
It does not take much time for the man’s best friend, dogs, to turn into a worst enemy especially when provoked. Just a single bite can have serious consequences. In such a situation, a person bitten by a dog of his or her neighbor may want to take legal action and understandably so. However, for obvious reasons, you probably cannot indict or sue a dog. Therefore, quite naturally the one that you should target is the owner of the dog. However, you will need to prove that the owner is liable for the dogbiting or attack you which by it is a difficult task asking for help from a qualified Personal Injury Lawyer in Mississauga.
Change in the law
In a few states in the US, there were no specific legislations regarding dog bites for many years. In such cases the legal doctrine was based on the common law. However, there is a catch in the rules that governs dog bite cases. This, the Personal Injury Lawyer in Mississauga calls the ‘one bite rule.’ It is said that, ‘every dog is entitled to one bite’ and according to this rule, the owner of a dog can be relieved from the liability of his or her dog biting for the first time if he or she did not have any way of knowing that the dog had biting a tendency.
The owner’s liability
According to the general rule of personal injury law it is said that the owner of the dog can be held liable for the behavior of the dog. It falls under the liability under the Dog Owner’s Liability Act. However, most of the states have replaced this with specific legislation. This specific legislation says that when a dog attacks or bites a person or even another pet, the owner of the dog will be held liable to pay for the damages that result. The unique thing about this law as explained by the Personal Injury Lawyer in Mississauga is that if a dog has multiple owners, then all the owners will be held equally liable.
Proving the negligence
Under this new and specific law, if you suffer any damage you typically do not have to prove that the owner of the dog was negligent to cause the incident. You will also to have to prove that the behavior of the dog was caused by the owner in any way. In addition to that, according to the ‘one bite rule’ of the past, there is no need for the owner of the dog to have the knowledge about the propensity of the dog for biting people.
The concept of strict liability
According to the new legislation, all that is considered is that the dog has bit someone and had an owner who will be held liable for paying the damages. Everything is shown under the legislation and it is said all these scenarios is held to the common ‘strict liability’ factor. The Dog Owner’s Liability Act however has an imperative exception for dogs that protects the property of the owner. For more information visit here: MPC Personal Injury Lawyer