Understanding Personal Injury Law

Kentucky Dog Bite Lawsuit Tips

7 June 2016

Kristina Walker

A dog bite lawsuit can be a very valuable tool if you were bitten by someone else's dog, but it is important to understand how they work before you dive in. By properly preparing and researching the laws of your state, you can determine whether or not your lawsuit is a good idea and how much money you can stand to win. For Kentucky, here are a couple of the most important considerations that you will need to make, the applicability (or lack thereof) of the one bite rule, and the idea of comparative negligence.

Does Kentucky use the one bite rule?

You might have heard of the one bite rule, which says that the owner essentially gets a free pass for the first time that their dog bites someone. However, that rule only applies in some states and Kentucky does not happen to be one of them.

Instead, dog owners in Kentucky are strictly liable for any bites caused by their dogs, which is good news for you. This means that you can file a lawsuit for any dog bite, even if the owner had no possible way of knowing that their dog was going to bite you.

On another bright note for the plaintiffs in dog bite lawsuits, Kentucky doesn't limit dog bite lawsuits to actual bites. Instead, any damage caused by a dog can qualify, which can be very important if you were injured as a result of being knocked over by a dog.

How can comparative negligence affect your case?

When it comes to personal injury lawsuits like dog bite lawsuits, you will need to carefully consider how comparative negligence will factor into your case. The gist of the concept is that you will get less money than you would have originally if the court finds that you were partially to blame for the incident. If you antagonized the dog in some way or acted in a way that directly led to your injuries, then comparative negligence will come into play.

Each state treats this concept differently and, luckily for you, Kentucky favors you more than the defendant relative to other states. In Kentucky, your damages will be reduced proportionally to your level of responsibility, but you can get some money even if you were 95% to blame. This version of comparative fault is called pure comparative fault and is the most lenient form of the idea that you will find when comparing states. Contact a law firm, such as the Fitzsimmons & Vervaecke Law Firm, for more information. 

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