Dog Bites – IL Ranks 2nd

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Dog Bites – IL Ranks 2nd

Written by Malman Law, reviewed by Steve J. Malman.

Chicago Personal Injury attorneys are busy, according to a recent study by State Farm Insurance. The study finds that “dogs in Illinois take the second-biggest bite out of State Farm’s claim expenses nationally, accounting for the most bites and total payouts nationally after California,” according to the Chicago Tribune.

The remaining eight states rounding out the top ten were Florida, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York. Out of all the states, Florida’s average claim is the highest at $38,356 per incident. Both Illinois and California, numbers 2 and 1 on the list respectively, had a per-claim average of around $30,600. It is unknown how many of the claims were filed with the assistance of Chicago personal injury attorneys.

In 2010, there were 317 dog bite claims filed with State Farm in Illinois that resulted in payouts of $9.7 million dollars. And that was just for one insurer – “the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group, estimates that U.S. insurers paid $412 million in dog bite claims in 2009,” according to the Tribune. Additionally, 33 deaths last year were the result of dog bites – two in Illinois.

Chicago Dog Bite Cases
Chicago dog bite injuries can cause serious and permanent physical, emotional and psychological damage. Not only can a dog’s bite be incredibly painful, but also an injured person may have to undergo extensive surgery to repair the injury. Even this may not be enough to prevent or correct permanent disfigurement and scarring.

In Illinois, if a dog bite victim does not provoke the attack, they are likely entitled to damages. You may also seek Chicago personal injury compensation if you got hurt as a result of running away from an aggressive dog. Even if you are the dog’s first bite victim or if the animal does not have a prior history of violence, you can still file a claim with the assistance of a Chicago personal injury attorney.