Dog attacks can result in severe injuries, which are often sustained by young children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), millions of people suffer injuries from dog bites every year, with hundreds of thousands requiring emergency medical treatment.
Most dog bite cases are settled through negotiations with the dog owner’s homeowner insurance policy. However, personal injury lawsuits may be necessary to obtain more money if the dog owner’s policy doesn’t cover all the costs from your injury.
What is the Dog Bite Law in Kansas?
If you want to seek damages in a Kansas civil lawsuit, you must prove one of two things:
- The dog owner knew his or her dog would bite
- The dog owner failed to use reasonable care to prevent the injuries
The first scenario is known as the “one bite” rule, which requires that a dog’s owner knew or had reason to know his or her pet would bite in order to be held responsible for any harm the dog causes. In most cases, the fact that the dog has bitten someone before is enough evidence to demonstrate the owner knew or should’ve known the dog has the propensity to bite. Furthermore, if the dog acts aggressively or has caused other types of injuries, those instances can show the owner knew or should’ve know the dog may cause harm.
The second situation is considered as the “negligence” rule, which means that the injured victim must demonstrate that the dog’s owner failed to use reasonable care, and that this failure led to the dog bite or attack. For example, if a person suffers an injury after getting knocked down by a large dog, he or she may argue that incident would not have happened if the dog’s owner had used reasonable care to restrain the dog.
In Kansas, an injured person has two years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit.
If you suffered an injury due to a dog bite in Kansas, contact our Wichita personal injury lawyer at Hutton & Hutton Law Firm, LLC today.