Dog bites can be incredibly traumatic; not only are they scary, but they can also cause serious injuries, make you intimidated around other dogs, and cause further anxiety. If you’ve been bitten by a dog, you should not have to suffer through those things without any sort of compensation.
The sad truth is dog bites happen often, and they can occur at any time by any dog. It’s important to know the dogs around you and pay attention to how they act and react to you.
However, that’s not always possible. So, when involved in a dog attack, the dog’s owner can be held liable. Working with experienced Denver dog bite attorneys, you’ll get a legal team that understands the complexity of the law and can show liability so you get the damages you deserve.
This post is going over all you need to know about dog bite laws in Colorado.
Colorado is known as a one-bite state, which means if you are bitten by a dog, you don’t have to prove that the dog has previously bitten someone. In fact, the dog owner is automatically liable, whether or not the owner was negligent or whether the dog has ever shown signs of aggression before.
If you’re bitten by a dog in Colorado, you can bring a lawsuit against the dog owner if strict liability has occurred. Strict liability means that the victim experienced serious bodily injury or death due to the dog bite while legally on public or private property.
If these conditions are met, the victim is entitled to bring a civil action for economic damages against the owner of the dog.
In order to receive damages from the dog owner, the victim must have serious bodily injury.
Seriously bodily injury consists of any of the following:
Colorado’s dog bite statute says a victim can get economic damages, which will cover:
Collecting non-economic damages from a dog bite is not allowed; however, your attorney can file a separate negligence lawsuit to get non-economic damages, which will cover:
Non-economic damages come with a maximum payout unless the victim has a permanent impairment, and these cases rely on the victim to prove negligence.
To prove negligence in your dog bite case, you must:
It’s important to note that if you’ve been bitten by a dog, but the injuries do not reach the severity of serious bodily injury, a negligence case can be filed. This may be best for you if you have any of the following injuries:
There are a handful of reasons you may not receive any compensation for a dog bite, including:
In any of these cases, no matter the severity of the injury sustained by the victim, no damages can be recovered.
We know this traumatic event has affected you. Know that we have helped many dog bite victims and want to help.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can aid you through the legal process. Our team understands what it takes to get you the justice you’re counting on and the financial compensation you’re entitled to.
At Hull & Zimmerman, P.C., we are honored to help accident victims in their time of need, and take our responsibility as personal injury lawyers incredibly seriously. We know how important it is for victims to secure the full and fair compensation they need following a serious accident, and that is why we take a hands-on, personalized approach to every case we handle.
awarded to a woman who was a victim of a car crash. The woman was driving the highway when the other driver approaching from the opposite direction lost control of his vehicle, crossed the center line and hit her head on. She suffered multiple broken bones, including her hip, pelvis, leg, and right arm. She missed several years of work as a result of her injuries. Read More
awarded to a woman who was the victim of a t-bone car crash. The client suffered multiple injuries. The most significant of which was a head injury. While she was ultimately able to return to work on a part-time basis, Plaintiff was never able to return to work on a full-time basis. Read More
settlement awarded to a lady who suffered a head injury. She slipped and fell in a slanted parking lot at her place of employment. Evidence demonstrated that the owner of the building had constructed a fence shading the parking lot such that ice was allowed to continuously accumulate during the winter months. Multiple people had fallen on the ice prior to the client’s fall. As a result of her injuries, Plaintiff was forced to take early retirement. Read More
awarded to a man whose vehicle was hit from behind by a semi. The injured party suffered back pain and rotator cuff tears in each shoulder and was forced to retire from his job doing road repair four years earlier. Read More
settlement (policy limits) awarded to a young man who lost his eye when another child shot an arrow into the air. Read More
settlement obtained for a man who was injured in a rear end automobile accident. He suffered a herniated disc in his low back which was not well resolved by surgery forcing him to leave his employment as an apartment maintenance manager. Read More
awarded to a gentleman in association with a workman’s compensation case. He initially sustained a head injury at work when attacked by a patient. Several years later, his condition worsened resulting in his inability to return to work in his usual job. Read More
settlement achieved in a legal malpractice case. The client initially suffered a herniated disc in her neck in association with an automobile accident. The attorney failed to file the lawsuit in a timely manner and the Plaintiff was initially denied her ability to achieve any monies from the original lawsuit. Read More
settlement awarded to a man who was a victim of an automobile accident. Plaintiff was a passenger who was rear-ended by another driver. Following the accident, he suffered a long term back injury. Read More
settlement awarded to a lady who aggravated a pre-existing back condition when she slipped and fell at the entrance to a casino. Read More
awarded to a woman who suffered a rotator cuff tear from an automobile accident. Read More
$1,250,000.00 –awarded to a woman who was a victim of a car crash. The woman was driving the highway when the other driver approaching from the opposite direction lost control of his vehicle, crossed the center line and hit her head on. She suffered multiple broken bones, including her hip, pelvis, leg, and right arm. She missed several years of work as a result of her injuries.
$1,200.000.00 –awarded to a woman who was the victim of a t-bone car crash. The client suffered multiple injuries. The most significant of which was a head injury. While she was ultimately able to return to work on a part-time basis, Plaintiff was never able to return to work on a full-time basis.
$450,000.00 –settlement awarded to a lady who suffered a head injury. She slipped and fell in a slanted parking lot at her place of employment. Evidence demonstrated that the owner of the building had constructed a fence shading the parking lot such that ice was allowed to continuously accumulate during the winter months. Multiple people had fallen on the ice prior to the client’s fall. As a result of her injuries, Plaintiff was forced to take early retirement.
$425,000 –awarded to a man whose vehicle was hit from behind by a semi. The injured party suffered back pain and rotator cuff tears in each shoulder and was forced to retire from his job doing road repair four years earlier.
$300,000.00 –settlement (policy limits) awarded to a young man who lost his eye when another child shot an arrow into the air.
$300,000.00 –settlement obtained for a man who was injured in a rear end automobile accident. He suffered a herniated disc in his low back which was not well resolved by surgery forcing him to leave his employment as an apartment maintenance manager.
$250,000.00 –awarded to a gentleman in association with a workman’s compensation case. He initially sustained a head injury at work when attacked by a patient. Several years later, his condition worsened resulting in his inability to return to work in his usual job.
$250,000.00 –settlement achieved in a legal malpractice case. The client initially suffered a herniated disc in her neck in association with an automobile accident. The attorney failed to file the lawsuit in a timely manner and the Plaintiff was initially denied her ability to achieve any monies from the original lawsuit.
$150,000.00 –settlement awarded to a man who was a victim of an automobile accident. Plaintiff was a passenger who was rear-ended by another driver. Following the accident, he suffered a long term back injury.
$125,000.00 –settlement awarded to a lady who aggravated a pre-existing back condition when she slipped and fell at the entrance to a casino.
$75,000.00 –awarded to a woman who suffered a rotator cuff tear from an automobile accident.
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to talk to. They made my experience very comfortable through my whole journey.
My heartfelt gratitude goes out to the whole staff at Hull & Zimmerman. Thank
you
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– R. Hamilton
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would just like to send a “thank you” to you and your staff. You have been the
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– D. Hassoun
would
just like to send a “thank you” to you and your staff. You have been the most
professional and efficient law office if have ever dealt with. I will continue
to tell people about the wonderful job you have done for me and my family. Mr.
Zimmerman you are the most professional lawyer and I truly appreciate all you
have done. Again Thank you.
– Jason B.
I was
injured in a fall and the nightmare began. I found Mike Zimmerman on the
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was wonderful, patient, and helpful, even though I was probably a pain to them.
Mike is a no nonsense kind of guy. He will tell you exactly what he feels about
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Working through divorce and custody issues is an extremely difficult and
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lawyer, and advised us every step of the way. His associates were very
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– Clarencec & Joy W.
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were hit by an uninsured driver in 2006 and my husband was unable to work for
some time. Initially our own insurance really didn’t want to help us. On the
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– D. & S. Bratrovsky
Exceeded expectations!
– T. Thiel
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liked the fact that I was kept up to date throughout the process. When the
accident first happened, Rick went to bat for me right away to make sure that I
was compensated for my loss of transportation. The end result in my case
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I
appreciated the fact that Rick Hull always explained everything to me. No matter
how insignificant I thought the question was, he encouraged me to ask and was
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I could make an informed decision that best suited my needs.
5:07 pm
October 10th, 2023