After a dog attack, your first priority should be to seek medical assistance. You likely aren’t immediately considering the impacts of your injuries or seeking compensation. It is often when you realize the costs involved and other burdens resulting from the attack that you may contact a lawyer to discuss your case. It is always recommended to gather as much evidence at the scene of the attack as possible, including the contact information of any witnesses. Even if you don’t think you will be seeking compensation from the dog owner. Eyewitnesses to the attack can support your case. They can provide an objective view of the series of events that happened or provide a more complete picture from a different point of view.
There are different kinds of witnesses that your dog attack lawyer might want to include in your dog injury case. Witnesses can provide important information about the incident and can support your case of what took place or your injuries.
Different Kinds of Witnesses in Dog Attack Cases
Eyewitnesses: Anyone that saw you get attacked or that may have seen what happened immediately before or after you were attacked. These witnesses can provide testimony of the events that took place that may support your memories of the attack.
Dog Experts: Veterinarians or canine experts can provide an opinion in areas such as training, negligence, socialization and provocation.
Medical Experts: A doctor or other medical professional can help the court to understand your injuries and what the impacts of those injuries will be for you in the future.
Vocational Experts or Economist: These witnesses will help to quantify the costs associated with your injuries.
Eyewitnesses
If you were bitten by a dog, take steps to get contact information from any witnesses in the area. These are the individuals who can act as eyewitnesses in your case. A good eyewitness will write down their memories from the attack they saw as soon as they are able. This will help them to recall what happened more clearly if called to go to court. Witnesses can play an important role in dog attack cases.
There is an expectation that eyewitnesses will provide their deposition or testimony voluntarily. It can be horrifying to witness a dog attack and individuals will typically want to make sure that the plaintiff is compensated and that the dog won’t attack anyone else. Having to subpoena them and force them to go to court is possible but unlikely to provide a positive outcome for whichever side the eyewitness is called. In some cases, however, the eyewitness may have a relationship or know the dog owner and may not want to speak out against them.
When your case is being built, other eyewitnesses may also be called on, such as neighbours, that can report on the aggressive nature of a dog.
Expert Witnesses
In preparing your case to go to court, your lawyer may want to call on one or two expert witnesses. Expert witnesses are expected to hold credentials for the fields in which they provide testimony. They must speak only to their area(s) of expertise. If you’ve hired an experienced dog bite lawyer, they will have experience with finding and hiring reputable expert witnesses for your case.
As a Witness, What Should I do?
If you’ve been a witness to a dog attack, write down everything you can remember about the attack, you may be called on to speak about what happened. Provide your contact information to the person that was attacked and if the police or animal warden attend to the scene. Be willing to speak to your version of events in court.
If you’ve been bitten in an attack, contact Jeffrey Harlan Penneys to discuss your case. He provides a free consultation and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.