In Ohio, we have what we call the dog bite statute. Ohio Revised Code 955.28 says that the owner, keeper, or harborer
of a dog is liable for injuries and damages caused by the dog. It’s what we call strict liability. You don’t have to show that they were the dog owner was
negligent. Just they own the dog, they kept the dog, they harbored the dog, and therefore and then that dog hurt somebody, they are held liable. Okay?
There are exceptions to that. If you are trespassing, okay, if somebody trespasses in somebody’s yard and the
sdog bites them, that is a defense to the strict liability. Also, if you’re teasing or tormenting the dog, if you go
and I imagine you could, you know, slap the dog or something and the dog bites you, then that could be a defense as well, teasing and tormenting. We handle
lots of dog bite cases. I’ve handled a tremendous amount of dog bite cases over the years. We’ve even tried dog bite cases and the the one thing that we need
to establish is is one the dog owner but all the parties that can be held liable that that and again the the keeper the
harborer and those those are different relationships to the dog they can be held liable as well but we need to we need to locate some sort of insurance
coverage. It’s usually homeowners insurance coverage. So, if the person owns their home and they own the dog,
then we would go after their homeowner’s insurance to make sure that the injury victim is is compensated. Now, dog bites, depending on the dog, they can do
some pretty serious damage. And we and that’s again one of those where we make sure that we we document the injuries.
They also can leave scars, long-term scars. We’ve had many cases,
unfortunately, where children have been bitten in the face and they they’re left with scars for the rest of their life because of this because of this incident. And we make sure that that is
understood by the insurance company that it’s not just a bite that healed and that now it’s done. No, it’s going to be something that last on into the future
and that this person has to uh has to suffer with for for for many years into the future. And we make sure that those things are uh are documented.