Dog Bite Cases Resolves For Policy Limit


Attorney Daniel VillalobosAuthor: Attorney Daniel Villalobos

Client Is Relaxing On Her Porch When She Was Attacked By A Pitbull

Our clients, a middle aged woman and her teenage daughter, were relaxing on their porch on a hot summer day. Her daughter was reading a book and her mother was talking on her phone. Suddenly and without warning our clients heard loud screams coming from the front sidewalk in front of their yard. A pitbull had gotten loose and was attacking a pedestrian walking in front of their house. Our clients rushed to the scene and tried to scare the dog off. Unfortunately, the dog released his hold on the pedestrian and attacked our clients. Both of our clients suffered several dog bite puncture wounds on their legs and buttocks. After approximately one minute after the attack, the dogs owner rushed to the scene and took control of his dog.

Our Clients Rush To The Hospital

Immediately after the attack our clients are rushed to the hospital. The mother suffered deep lacerations to the legs and buttocks resulting in several stitches on each wound. The daughter’s injuries were not as severe. She had a few bites on her legs and buttocks but none had broken the skin and caused bleeding nor the need for stitches. Our clients were given antibiotics and released back home.

Our Clients Hire A Different Law Firm

Our clients, without doing a proper background check on the lawyer they contacted, hired a lawyer do represent them. Little did they know, the lawyer they hired had no experience on dog bite cases. In fact, the lawyer they hired specialized in real estate law and only did personal injury cases on the side. After a year went by, our clients were frustrated because the lawyer had not done any work on the file. The insurance company for the original lawyer scheduled a mediation for the three people injured in the attack—the mother, the daughter, and the pedestrian. The mediation was scheduled for a Monday. The Friday before the mediation the clients called the lawyer to see if he was prepared for the mediation. To their surprise, the lawyer had completely forgotten about the mediation on Monday and was not ready to mediate a settlement. To make matters worse, the lawyer informed the clients that he didn’t have time for their personal injury case and he withdrew from the case the Friday before the mediation. Completely abandoned and not knowing what to do, the clients called the insurance company and asked for an extension of time to seek other counsel before the mediation which was only 2 days away. The insurance company refused stating that they had ample time to prepare for the mediation and the failure of their attorney to do their job was not sufficient enough to postpone the mediation. The insurance company stated that either they showed up on Monday or they waived their right to participate in the mediation.

Our Firm Negotiates A Settlement

On the Saturday morning before the mediation, our clients called the Miami Dog Bite Attorneys Dell and Schaefer. Our firm quickly took the case, and by Saturday night our attorney drove to our clients house, got all the necessary medical records and pictures, opened up the file, and sent the letter of representation to the insurance company stating their intent to appear and participate in the mediation. Our attorney spent all day Sunday with the clients discussing the facts of the case and how best to present it at mediation. On Monday morning, our attorney arrived at the mediation fully prepared and ready to settle. After a lengthy negotiation, our attorney was able to negotiate a split settlement of the $300,000.00 policy limit among all three victims.

Our clients were absolutely thrilled that our firm was able to investigate the matter, prepare the case, and mediate a policy limits settlement with less than 48 hours notice. Our firm did in less than two days what the original attorney couldn’t do in over a year.

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