Dietrich Law Firm PC Jed Dietrich Dog Bite Lawyer Buffalo New York

Hello everybody this segment our good friend Jed Dietrich is back with us on AM Buffalo. Jed is the president of the Dietrich Law Firm and you have seen his past segments and you know Jed is a font of great information about the law and you and your rights. Today's topic, well with everybody being outside a little bit more with our pets. We're gonna be talking about what do you do in case of a dog bite as far as legal issues and we're gonna open the phones as well if you have a question 644-9842. Good morning, nice to have you back with us. Thanks Linda, it's my pleasure. And as I said you'll be back more regularly. Absolutely. We can't help but looking forward to it. Thank you. All right yeah you know you're right you do read instances where people are getting out, animals are getting out and dog bites occur. Yeah what happens is I'm getting a number of calls in my office so I figured I'd come on today to talk about this because so many people are calling me.

People are out and about they're going to festivals as your last segment indicated and the problem is when people don't leash their dogs and the dog gets out and then the dog has a propensity to to be vicious, and the law looks at that and says if the dog is a propensity to be vicious and the owner knows about that and the dog bites someone then the homeowners policy for the dog owner should be responsible and that's where I come in and that's why you need a lawyer to preserve your rights immediately after a dog bite to do an investigation and to talk to you to give you advice. And you take pictures you talk to neighbors, you talk to the postman, so there's a fairly extensive investigation that takes place with these things but a lot of people say “well it was a little thing,” but scars come about relatively easily, especially in the younger people I've got a couple of cases right now where children were at sleepovers with friends and the dogs at the house where the sleepover occurred.

Dog gets out of an area and the next thing you know you've got a permanent scar on an 8 or 10 year old child which is a real problem and you got to live with that for the rest of your life. So, I'm here for informational purposes to tell people what to do initially and if they they want to bring a claim obviously I'm willing to do that for them they can call me at 716-839-3939 that's my office line. Jed what if - what if you have a dog with no propensity to bite that you know of.

It's never bitten anybody before and you have somebody who trespasses and they ultimately get bit? That's a good question Linda and in that circumstance I would probably give the person information as to what they should do medically but from a legal standpoint it doesn't sound like that there's a claim to be brought I mean in New York you have to have what's known as vicious propensity so the dog frequently would get out perhaps nip at people bite people bark at the the postman or woman and so it's a fact-intensive inquiry and the reality is the homeowners insurance policy is there for protection of the people that are injured and we've had good success in having proper results fair and reasonable results, for injuries that were substantial obviously if it's a small thing there's no scar you don't go to the hospital then you're not gonna bring a claim. I’m talking about instances where there's a pattern of the dog biting people and then you end up with a hospital visit perhaps an injury that turns into a scar or even surgery.

The one case I was referring to over in Rochester included two surgeries already to a young 10 year old boy and unfortunately he's going to have a scar which is about 7 inches across his face underneath his eye he was lucky the dog didn't get him in the eye. And it's a very fact-intensive investigation and that was a case where you absolutely have to have a lawyer looking out for your rights, fighting for you. If you don't have a lawyer fighting for you the insurance companies are not going to treat you fairly. I always say this Linda I've said it before if insurance companies were fair I would not have a job and that's the truth so I'm there for you I get to give every client my cell phone number and we get back to people within one business day no matter what my staff does that we like to say we're aggressive, tenacious, and hard- working for you.

And and I use those principles when I prosecute every single case in my office. You hear about some of these people who also advertise and they've got their angle and and I think my angle is much more personal approach and I don't take every case the calls I can tell you that right now and sometimes I talk to people for half an hour or an hour on the phone and give them information but I decide that I can't help them or they don't have a claim that's valid. I think it's important to determine which claims are valid and then pursue those vigorously. Well that’s good to know all right Jed we have a phone call and a question for you this morning and your calls are welcome. Hello sir welcome go ahead please. Hello Mr. Dietrich - my name is Scott and my son was awarded $15,000 from a dog bite injury and his medical you know, went above and beyond that and unfortunately he's disabled and Medicare I guess came back with a judgment and now there's MSPRC involved and I guess whatever is left he’ll get. Can you please explain what MSPRC is? Yeah I'm sorry that it's turned out the way you just described sir. The lawyer who represented your son should have made a claim for all medical bills paid either by Medicaid or Medicare or private health insurance company and also made a claim for pain and suffering to your to your son or grandson, whoever it was.

It sounds like that settlement wasn't large enough to cover all the outstanding expenses and thereafter provide compensation to the young person for the pain and suffering. So it sounds like that that case did not turn out properly. Once there's a settlement, and if it's a young person person under 18 years old, in front of a judge it's very difficult to reopen things like that because you go in front of a judge and you ask the judge “Judge do you agree that this case should be settled in this fashion?” Now sometimes when you have a case where there are no vicious propensities you may have to settle a case for less than what the value of the medical bills and the pain suffering is because there's a bad claim on liability. You have to show that vicious propensity so in that particular circumstance it doesn't sound like I or any other lawyer could reopen it.

It sounds like there may have been a problem with the liability and if you had further questions I definitely encourage you to contact the lawyer who initially handled it to get some more information. Thanks caller and that does happen where someone will settle and not get an attorney and just settle with the insurance company and then these bills or these this other money or needs for more money comes up later and once you decide to settle you're pretty much done. That's right and again it just goes back to the fact that you want somebody in your corner fighting for you I say I've got your back I'm in your corner. All right, Jed Dietrich and we're glad that he'll be with us more often. Now a great question thank you for that that came in. If you have additional questions (716) 839-3939 for the Dietrich Law Firm and they have moved now. They're on John James Audubon Pkwy in Amherst or you can always go to their website www.calljed.com. Thanks Linda.