Category: Dog Bites

Most dogs are domesticated and do nothing but bark. However, since 1 million people are bitten by dogs every year, dog bites are not unheard of. If you have ever been the victim of a dog bite, you want to hire a good lawyer to help you craft the personal injury case or claim that will get you the settlement you deserve from the dog’s owner. It may surprise (and shock you) to learn that you can be bitten by a dog and still not be eligible for any compensation from its owner. Read More

Anyone who gets bitten by a dog while residing in or visiting the Canadian province known as Ontario should read and study the Province’s Dog Owner’s Liability Act. It states that the owner of a pet canine must be held liable if the same pet bites someone, or attacks a domestic animal. That rule applies at the time of any biting incident, regardless of the dog’s history. Read More

In certain provinces within Canada, a concern for human rights has led to restrictions on the rights of specific canine brands. The humans of concern to legislatures were all those that had been victimized by and bitten by a dog. Statistics suggest that a majority of such victims could be described as children or teens. They are eligible to file for claims with the help of personal injury lawyer in St. Catharines. Read More

According to the law, the owner of a pet canine must keep that animal under control at all times. An owner’s failure to satisfy that duty can cause innocent person to get bit. If that happens, the dog’s owner is responsible for all the resulting damages. Read More

The truth is that any dog can hurt a person. The majority of attacks, in reality, are caused by pets that belong to someone’s friends or family. You shouldn’t underestimate the seriousness of this event, just because the dog is cute-looking, small, gentle, and large or anything – it’s an animal and it has certain instincts and when it gets triggered, it would attack. Read More

Now, it is incredibly important to properly interpret the regulations set forth in the legislation when it comes to practicing law. With this in mind, it is also crucial to note that personal injury law is one of the broadest areas and it envelops a wide variety of legal provisions that are subjected to interpretation by the attorneys and by the judges. Dog bites on the other hand, are a sub division of personal injury law and they formulate a major institute within it. The reason for this is that they are incredibly common. The main law which regulates dog bites and respective and derivative responsibility in the city of St. Catharines is the Dog Owner’s Liability Act. With this being said, the following is going to take a closer look to the most important clauses and interpret them as intended.

It is important to understand that the term “owner” is the person that is in possession of a dog. If this particular person is a minor then the owner is going to be the one who is legally responsible for the actual custody of the minor. This solution is rather fair because it serves the requirements of the legislation.

Key aspects of the Act

One of the first provisions set forth in this particular act explains exactly in which cases the owner is liable. Basically the Dog Owner’s Liability Act undertakes an interesting and at the same time rather fair approach. It widens the responsibility of the owner to an extent in which he is liable for all damages which are caused by a bite. However, the interesting thing here is that the victim can be a person or another domestic animal.

A domestic animal is considered such which has been properly domesticated and it is intended to be living within a residential environment without a reach to the wild world. The direction towards the Act steers is fair because the owners are going to be required to treat the pet from the injuries that it has incurred as a result of the bite. This means that they are going to suffer a monetary loss which is directly linked to the dog bite and as such it has to be properly compensated.

The Act also sets forth provisions which clearly explain how to deal with situations in which the dog has more than one owner. Under the regulations set forth in the Act, all of the owners are going to be jointly as well as severally responsible. This is stated in article 2, paragraph 2 in the Dog Owner’s Liability Act of Toronto, under the Civil Liability section. The solution is also incredibly fair.