Tips and Tricks for Dog Bite Lawyers

Attorney Kenneth M. Phillips' highly confidential tips-and-tricks seminar, only for plaintiffs' lawyers. The tactics, strategies, tricks, moves and counter-moves for winning your dog bite cases. A legal best seller, good in all states. View it on your computer in the privacy of your office, with the complete script in front of you. Law and tactics good in all 50 states. $119.95 or $50 when you buy it with Dog Bite Lawsuit Forms for Plaintiffs' Lawyers.

Dog bite cases require specialized knowledge. You already know that you cannot expect to win a medical malpractice case without knowing details about medical procedures, anatomy, hospitals, etc. You cannot expect to win an auto accident case without knowledge about cars, roads, the meaning of skid marks, and on and on. The same is true of dog bite cases. This field not only has a unique set of legal concepts, but unique ways of establishing the facts. Phillips will tell you what the dog owner, the insurance adjuster, and their attorney are going to say -- and how to make their own words bite them hard. For example, when the defense asserts that your client provoked the dog, you will learn how to use the defense allegations to put liability squarely on the shoulders of the dog owner.

You can prove the true cause of an attack by using facts about the dog's health, confinement and training. To do this, you must have accurate information about canine aggression, and know where to get the witnesses, documents and experts for your particular case. The insurance adjuster and defense attorney will know about these things. Unless you learn them, you will start out behind and fall further behind as time goes on. The information you will learn from this fast-moving seminar will enable you to recognize the winning claims, devastate the defense, avoid insurance scams that are the plague of structured settlements, and much more. Here's what it covers:

Introduction to the Dog Bite Epidemic

• The number of dog bite victims
• The cost to society and the insurance industry
• The typical victim – a child who is bitten in the face
• Attitudes of government, the public and the insurance industry
• Settlements and verdicts

The Prima Facia Case

• Causes of action available to human victims
• Causes of action for bystanders
• Causes of action when a dog is injured or killed

Insurance

• Homeowner and renters insurance
• Excess and umbrella policies
• Medical payment coverage
• Automobile insurance
• Pet sitters are included
• The exclusion for residents of the insured home
• The exclusion for business activities – daycare and renters
• The exclusion for canine-inflicted injuries
• No representation at the dangerous dog hearing

Defenses in Dog Bite Cases

• Provocation
• "Bad Dog" sign
• Assumption of the risk
• Trespass
• Criminal conduct
• Military or police dog
• Comparative responsibility – victim, the child's parents
• Rescuers
• Employers
• Ownership of the attacking dog
• Which dog bit?
• Was it a bite?

Unique Aspects of Dog Bite Cases

• The dangerous dog hearing – opportunities and pitfalls
• The initial client interview
• Friends, family members and neighbors as defendants
• Parents "playing lawyer"
• Traumatized parents – non-cooperation, minimizing, overtreating, hostility
• Motivating parents to stand by their children
• Dog lovers as victims
• Investigating the attacking dog
• Injuries in dog parks
• Lies, lies, lies – about the facts and the insurance
• Humane society as defendant
• Dealing with animal control officers
• Dealing with veterinarians
• Dealing with behaviorists
• Why dogs bite – and how to use that information
• Proving which dog bit the victim
• Proving ownership of the attacking dog
• Photography do's, don'ts and how-to's
• Subsequent torts – infliction of emotional distress
• Evaluating compensation for facial scars
• The reserve letter and the settlement presentation
• Recognizing good and bad cases
• Case screening (form)
• Typical case timetable

Structured Settlements

• Since most victims are kids, attorneys need to know
• Overview of structured settlement – benefits and tax treatment
• How to negotiate the settlement
• How to control the broker and the life insurance company
• How to avoid the rampant fraud upon victims
• Use of a trust to purchase the annuity in some cases
• Documentation – what is needed and what to watch out for
• Explaining the annuity to the Court

Court Approval of Minor's Settlements

• Since most victims are kids, attorneys need to know
• Essential pleadings and evidence – current medical report
• The hearing – what the judges are looking for

Pleading the Dog Bite Case

• Strategies in pleading
• Essential elements of Complaint