Personal Injury Case Results – Animal Attacks and Dog Bites

Dog Bite – Partial Amputation of Nose, Scarring of Forehead; $255,000.00

On June 16th, 2006, the plaintiff was a lawful visitor at the defendants’ home. The defendants were the owners of an American Bulldog named “Buster”. The plaintiff, a neighbor of the defendant, was familiar with Buster. As the dog approached the plaintiff, the plaintiff knelt-down and the dog suddenly bit at the plaintiff’s face, severing a portion of the plaintiff’s left nostril and upper lip. There was no evidence of teasing or tormenting which would otherwise have served as a defense to the plaintiffs’ statutory claims.
Trial report for this dog bite injury case

Dog Bite – Fractured Thumb; $100,000.00

The plaintiff, a 48 year-old woman, was walking with her 12-year-old son and her unleashed Labrador Retriever along a residential street near her home in Gloucester, Massachusetts. As the plaintiffs proceeded down the street they observed a second couple, walking an unleashed “Pit Bull”, in their direction. As the parties approached one another, the two dogs began circling each other. Fearing that the Pit Bull would attack the Labrador, the plaintiff reached between the two dogs in an attempt to protect her dog, which had recently undergone abdominal surgery. At that point, the Pit Bull locked his jaw around the plaintiffs left (non-dominant) hand, with tremendous force. In an effort to extract her hand from the dog’s mouth, the plaintiff lifted her hand into the air only to find the defendant’s dog still attached. After she had successfully separated herself from the defendant’s dog, the plaintiff removed her winter glove to find her thumb badly lacerated. She was transported to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a displaced fracture of her left thumb. At the time of the incident, the plaintiff was employed as an administrative secretary, was unable to perform her occupational duties for several months.
Trial report for this dog bite injury case

Dog Bite – Partial Amputation of Nose; $220,000

The plaintiff, a Massachusetts licensed neuro-psychiatrist, and her husband, arrived at the home of the plaintiff’s sister to meet the defendants’ newly adopted dog, a Dalmatian. The plaintiff entered her sister’s home and greeted the dog. When the plaintiff bent down to hand the dog a play toy, the dog suddenly and without warning, lunged toward the plaintiff’s face, biting-off a portion of the plaintiff’s nose. Following the initial surgery which resulted in the re-attachment of the severed tissue to the plaintiff’s nose, the plaintiff underwent a number of painful scar revision surgeries designed to improve the visual appearance of her nose. The dog bite incident, including the disfigurement occasioned by the loss of considerable tissue, left the plaintiff depressed and distant from her husband.
Trial report for this dog bite injury case

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