Attorney's dog bites

[curb1]

What is the name of your state? Oregon.
Brother in law was bitten by the neighbor's dog in a vicious attack. The attack took place on brother-in-law's property and required emergency room treatment. Dogs have had a history of problems , but were still allowed to roam. No attorney in our area will take the case against another attorney. Any suggestions? The attorney offered to settle everything for $79.00. Does that sound right? Also, brother-in-law is 70 years old and just walking on his own property when attacked.

[Blue Meanie]

Originally Posted by curb1

What is the name of your state? Oregon.
Brother in law was bitten by the neighbor's dog in a vicious attack. The attack took place on brother-in-law's property and required emergency room treatment. Dogs have had a history of problems , but were still allowed to roam. No attorney in our area will take the case against another attorney. Any suggestions? The attorney offered to settle everything for $79.00. Does that sound right? Also, brother-in-law is 70 years old and just walking on his own property when attacked.

Did you mean to type seventy-nine dollars??

Try going to another county for an attorney...

[gawm]

Did your brother in law file a police report? Were there any citations given out?

[MyHouse]

I did a simple search and found these attorneys in Oregon. Perhaps some are close enough to help you, but far away enough that they don't know the attorney who has the biting dog.

[url]http://www.injurylaworegon.com/dog_bites.htm[/url]

[url]http://www.oregondogbiteattorney.com/directions.html[/url]

[url]http://www.rdwyer.com/dog_bites.shtml[/url]

[url]http://www.aboutdogbites.com/contact.php4[/url]

Oregon Dog Bite Law: [url]http://www.dogbite.org/pages/oregondogbitelaw.html[/url]

[curb1]

The situation is not that it is a problem finding an attorney. The problem is that the owner of the dogs is an attorney. The first five contacted stated that they would not take the case out of professional courtesy to the owner of the dogs.

[curb1]

Yes, there were citations. This is where it takes another interesting twist. The $900 in fines were dismissed by the Sheriff, when the attorney promised to contain the dogs in the future. These were dogs that had caused trouble previously and law enforcement people were involved.

I guess the real question that doesn't sit well with him is, what does a person do? Do you just drop the whole thing and say, "Oh well".

[gawm]

The Sheriff cannot dismiss citations. Only a judge can do that.

[curb1]

Perhaps it was the $900 in fines that were dismissed. No sure if the fines were accompanied by citations.

[MyHouse]

Originally Posted by curb1

The situation is not that it is a problem finding an attorney. The problem is that the owner of the dogs is an attorney. The first five contacted stated that they would not take the case out of professional courtesy to the owner of the dogs.

Then there IS a problem finding an attorney - one that will take the case.

Your friend should keep trying. Maybe he should just give the guy's name and not mention that he is an attorney.

[gawm]

Originally Posted by curb1

Perhaps it was the $900 in fines that were dismissed. No sure if the fines were accompanied by citations.

Either way, a judge would have to dismiss them. The sheriff has not authority to dismiss them.

[curb1]

This is getting interesting. The dog control officer wrote a citation and there were fines of $900. The county legal department dismissed all fines and there is now no record that anything happened. Tomorrow I am going to personally talk with the person who wrote the citation. At the time following the incident, this dog control officer stated that they have previously had problems with this owner and dogs. Something is not right and it will be interesting to see how this shapes up.

[curb1]

Thank you for your comments. You are correct, the person issuing the citations and fines did not have the authority to dismiss the citations and fines. She initially said that someone above her dismissed the citations.

I spoke with her. She said that she dismissed the citations when the dog owner said he would do certain things for containment. I then went to our county legal council and they said only they had that authority and only with the agreement of the injured party. The citations will now be re-issued and there will be a hearing if there is not an agreed to settlement before.

This is becoming more interesting as time goes on. There are serious discussions taking place behind closed doors as I write this.

[curb1]

How are dog bite attacks resolved? The medical costs were about $700. The person attacked (by three dogs, but bit by one) was 70 years old and remains quite upset about the attack. The owner of the dogs (an attorney) has fended previous problems with these same dogs off of his property. Neighbors have stopped taking walks for fear of these dogs.
Should this civil settlement only to include the medical costs? As it stands now, the person attacked had his own insurance company pay medical costs. The attorney (owner of the dogs) did not pay any medical costs except the emergency room co-pay.

[curb1]

A bizarre turn of events. The dog control officer has now denied that any citations were ever written and the whole event is being dismissed. Initially, she said that citations were issued, and that she personally dismissed the citations. Then we pointed out to her that she did not have the authority to dismiss the citations. We talked with the county legal department and they agreed that she couldn't dismiss the citation. A week later this has gone full circle and the county legal department has said that no citations were issued and that in was now considered a non-event.

[MyHouse]

Do you have copies of any of the citations?