Compensation awarded to a courier bitten by a dog after his previous solicitors told him he didn’t have a claim.
We have helped a Devon-based courier recover compensation after he suffered a crush injury following a dog bite to the middle finger of his hand whilst leaving a card at a customer’s premises.
Immediately after being bitten he attended hospital for treatment. He was told he had sustained a broken bone and had to have the nail removed.
He had previously made a compensation claim against the dog owner with another firm of solicitors. However, legal liability had been denied by the owner’s insurer, and his case was eventually dropped when the solicitors told him there were no reasonable prospects of success.
He felt this was unfair and did some research online to find a firm of solicitors who specialise in dog bite claims. He read about our successes, and in particular the cases where we have succeeded after non-specialist solicitors had failed. He gave our free legal helpline a call and after listening to his story we agreed to take up his case on a No Win, No Fee basis.
Lawyer Elizabeth Duncan resubmitted his claim, arguing that the dog’s owner had not exercised sufficient control of their pet and had failed to warn our client of the potential danger posed by the dog.
Elizabeth also arranged for a plastic surgeon to consider our client’s injuries. The surgeon’s report confirmed that the injuries had resulted in a ‘reduced range of movement’, and had caused him to suffer a loss of earnings due to his inability to work while recovering.
The dog owner’s insurance company continued to deny liability and insisted that no offers would be made to settle the claim. Elizabeth was undaunted by this and issued court proceedings.
This sent the message to the insurers that we were serious and it led to an out of court settlement being reached. The compensation package included provision for our client’s physical injuries and financial losses.
If you are a courier bitten by a dog, or you have been told you do not have a valid claim, then contact the experts for a free case review and details of No Win, No Fee funding.
Call us on 0333 888 0435 or email [email protected].