New Jersey Accident and Injury Law Blog : New Jersey Injury Lawyer & Attorney : The Grossman Law Firm : Serving Monmouth County, Bergen County

It’s not entirely rare that a dog turns on its owner.  However, the viciousness of a recent dog attack in Massachusetts has been surprising to dog experts.

A five-year-old boy suffered serious injuries when he was attacked by his babysitter's dog. According to the Boston Herald, the little boy was attacked in the home of Karen Bruno O'Leary, who owned the bulldog. There's little information about the attack, but it seems that O'Leary was able to pull the dog off the little boy,. In the process, she suffered serious injuries of her own. The dog turned on her, attacking her.  Her injuries were serious enough for her to be airlifted to the hospital. The child meanwhile suffered serious facial injuries. The animal was finally shot dead.

Emergency responders who reached the scene, say it was a horrific, vicious attack. There is no information on the dog owner's condition, but she likely faces a long recovery process ahead.

Animal behavior experts are trying to understand why the dog turned on its owner. It's not entirely unheard of, but they believe there could have been a number of triggers that contributed to the attack. Typically, a dog that responds like this could be reacting out of fear or anxiety. The animal could simply have been exerting its dominance, or its territorial instincts could have surfaced. If the little boy was walking with food in his hand, that could have been enough to trigger the attack. Food can be a powerful motivator in a dog bite.

This attack confirms one thing to Freehold dog bite lawyers. There is no way to predict animal behavior with 100% accuracy. No matter how long you've had your pet, and no matter how gentle and child-like it's nature, there's no way you can completely guarantee that your dog will never be involved in an attack. It’s failure to accept this reality, that I often see behind a number of dog bites in New Jersey.

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It’s not an easy life for the thousands of census takers who are visiting homes across the country this census season. These workers face risks not just from unwelcoming homeowners, but also from angry dogs. According to the Associated Press, Census workers across the country have been the victims of a number of threats, including dog bites.

There are more than 635,000 census workers who have been hard at work since the first of May. These people have been going door-to-door, giving homeowners census forms. It's a thankless, backbreaking job, borne by the fact that, according to the Census Bureau, there've been more than 400 adverse incidents involving census workers in less than two months.

There've been a total of 409 adverse incidents reported, and out of these at least a dozen involved gunshots. At least 132 census workers were threatened when a homeowner pulled a gun on them, and 88 workers were physically assaulted by homeowners.

As far as dog bites are concerned, there were at least 24 reported incidents involving dog attacks on census workers.

It's not as if census workers are going out there completely entrained for what they can expect when they enter someone's property. However, it's important that dog owners make sure that census workers are protected when they entered their property.

·         If you have a dog on the premises, make sure that visitors to the property are warned about the animal. Place large warning signs on the gate.

·         Keep your dog secured or restrained during the time you would expect census workers to visit.

·         When the census worker is in your home, make sure that the dog is restrained in another room, or property secured in the yard.

These people do an invaluable service to our country, and the least we can do is make sure they are protected during the few minutes they are on our property.

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey dog bite lawyer representing injured victims of dog bites in Monmouth, Bergen, Passaic and Ocean Counties and across New Jersey.

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Concerned at a high number of dog bite incidents involving unleashed dogs in Washington State Parks, authorities have begun to crack down harder on off leash dogs. The announcement of this stronger crackdown was made during National Dog Bite Prevention Week earlier this month.  

In 2009, there were a total of 22 dog bite incidents recorded in Washington State, and of these, seven were serious enough to require professional medical attention. In 2008, there had been 31 such incidents and out of these, eight had been severe enough to require professional medical attention. 

After the high number of incidents in 2008, park rangers stepped up their enforcement efforts, and began talking to dog owners about the importance of keeping their dogs on leash. However, that didn't do much to cut down the number of dog bite incidents in these parks. This year therefore, authorities are going to issue infractions even for first-time offenses.

Under Washington state law, dogs must be on leashes that are no longer than 8 feet. Dogs must be under the owner’s control at all times, and are not allowed into buildings and natural reserves. They are allowed on campgrounds, trails and picnic areas, however.

Obviously, not many dog owners visiting these parks have been able to keep their animals under control. This has meant that several persons including children, have been bitten by dogs. These parks attract a large number of families with children, and these are not likely to visit if they have reason to fear dogs, roaming around off leash.

As a Freehold dog bite lawyer, I would like more public areas in the country to enforce stronger dog bite prevention laws, and to give this problem the serious attention it deserves.

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 As a New Jersey dog bite lawyer, it's always especially painful for me to come across instances of infants being seriously injured or killed in the attacks. Such attacks are not rare. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children below the age 5 account for a majority of the dog bite cases in the United States.

This month, one more dog bite involving a defenseless little baby made headlines around the country. This incident occurred in Riverside County in California. A six-month-old baby boy had been left in a carrier and in a room with two pit bulls. The mother was in another room of the apartment with a friend who also happened to be the owner of the dogs. When the two reached the room where they had left the baby, they found that the diaper had been ripped off, and the baby’s testicles had been mauled. The baby was rushed to the hospital. Fortunately, the baby seems to be recovering from the injuries.

In March, I blogged about a fatal dog bite attack involving a 10-day-old baby in Minnesota. In that attack, the circumstances were similar to the one in California. The baby had been left alone in a room with the family dog. The dog pounced on the baby, leaving it with serious head injuries. That baby unfortunately did not survive.

The breed of the dog is immaterial in either of these cases. There is simply no reason why you should leave an infant child, or even a toddler, alone with a dog. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that parents and caregivers not leave babies alone with dogs even for a few minutes.

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey dog bite lawyer, representing injured victims of dog bites in Monmouth, Bergen, Passaic and Ocean counties and across New Jersey.

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As a dog bite lawyer in New Jersey, I frequently come across cases where a family pet attacks a member of the family, or a relative. Something similar happened in Ohio this week. Sheriff's deputies in Summit County were called to a house after reports of a dog attack.

Thomas Heilman was helping his father get into his wheelchair when Heilman’s son’s pit bull attacked him. Heilman got his father safely into the house, and then, got inside the car to protect himself from the dog. When deputies arrived at the house, they found Heilman in the car with the dog outside. The pit bull then attacked one of the two deputies. The second deputy tried to use a stun gun on the dog, and when that didn't work, was forced to deliver a fatal gunshot to the animal.

Animal behavior is not an exact science. There is only so much you can predict about why a dog will attack. Dog ownership is the primary factor in many of these attacks.  Typically, a dog that’s well fed, well groomed, and most importantly, well exercised is likely to be an obedient and satisfied dog. That doesn't always happen, however. I've seen more than my share of cases where well-looked after dogs raised by devoted owners, have attacked.

The right training and discipline is very important in preventing such cases. This is especially more so when children are involved. Dogs look at the world in terms of a hierarchy, and at no point must the animal believe that it ranks above your immediate family members in this hierarchy.

Scott Grossman is a dog bite lawyer in New Jersey, representing injured victims of dog bites in Monmouth, Bergen, Passaic and Ocean counties, and throughout the state of New Jersey.

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A family in Illinois is finding out just how hard an insurer will try to avoid having to pay out in a dog bite incident. The insurer, Illinois Farmers Insurance has filed suit this week to avoid paying compensation to the victim of a dog bite attack.

The dog bite here occurred in July last year. The victim Chloe Pluger was bitten by a dog belonging to Gary and Sharon Lindstrom. Chloe's father Matthew Pluger filed a lawsuit against the Lindstroms. The lawsuit sought to recover compensation for injuries that Chloe suffered in the dog bite attack. However, Farmer’s Insurance refused to cover the injuries. 

The basis for this was that Chloe's mother had been dating Lindstrom's son when the dog bite occurred. The insurer alleged that for months before the dog bit Chloe, and for two weeks after the dog bite, they had all been residing in the same house belonging to the Lindstroms. According to the insurer, their dog bite policy specifically excludes members of the same household from liability.

To those not familiar with the kind of measures that insurers can adopt to avoid having to pay out compensation to injured victims, this means that the Farmer's policy excludes Chloe because she had been living at the Lindstrom's residence when the attack occurred.

As this case shows, you can expect an insurance company to try everything possible to avoid having to pay out compensation even in a simple dog bite case where liability is apparent.   I don't know much about the injuries that Chloe suffered here, but in case of a severe dog bite, victims may be looking at heavy medical expenses that could leave them in severe financial distress if the insurer refuses to pay out.

Scott Grossman is a dog bite attorney in New Jersey representing victims of dog bites in Monmouth, Ocean, Passaic, and Bergen Counties, and across the state of New Jersey.

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As a New Jersey dog bite lawyer, I have been following the case of a horrific dog bite attack on a little 3-year-old in Alloway in Salem County at the end of last month. The owner of the dog that was involved in the attack has now been charged.

The attack occurred when the little girl walked into a barn on Robert Taffet’s property. The girl fell down, and the Rhodesian Ridgeback allegedly lunged at her, ripping off one of her ears. The girl underwent a surgical procedure for reattachment. According to animal control officers in Alloway Township, Robert Taffet has been charged with owning a vicious dog. Taffet has a number of champion dogs that have won several local dog shows. They also seem to have dragged Taffet to court several times in relation to bite incidents in the past.

The Rhodesian Ridgeback can be a furious hunter, but can also be a gentle and obedient dog. These breeds may also not be at their best behavior with small children, mostly because they tend to knock kids over with their rough play. They can also become extremely unmanageable when they don’t have enough mental and physical exercise. They have a great amount of stamina and need to have long daily walks and lots of place to run.  In the absence of physical exercise, they can display signs of destructive and aggressive behavior.

Any dog bite that involves a little innocent child who has no way of understanding why things happen the way they do, must be taken seriously.. It’s hard to understand how a pack of dogs that had been involved in four different attacks in the past, was still allowed to roam freely among people.

Scott Grossman is a New Jersey dog bite lawyer representing victims of dog bite attacks in Monmouth, Bergen, Passaic and Ocean Counties and across New Jersey.

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As a New Jersey dog bite lawyer, I often see how victims are subjected to blame and accusations of negligence or even aggression, when they have been subjected to a vicious attack by a dog. While I admit that there may be cases of provoked dog attacks, very often these attacks can happen with little provocation.

A 5-year-old girl in Plymouth, Pennsylvania is looking at spending several weeks in hospital after serious throat injuries in a dog bite attack. The girl was bitten at the Maple Acre Farms establishment by a German Shepherd that belonged to the proprietor of the establishment. The dog was apparently unleashed, and walking about the property freely. The girl was bitten on the neck, and left with serious injuries. She suffered severe damage to her vocal chords, a punctured larynx and has also undergone a tracheotomy. This little girl is currently hooked on to a ventilator.

The dog owner has admitted to police that his dog had been involved in bite attacks earlier. In fact, records show that the dog has bitten people on at least three previous occasions. In the most recent attack, the dog ended up almost biting off the victim’s ear.

There seems to have been nothing that the little girl here did to provoke an attack. She had seen the dog on previous visits to the property, and had even petted it earlier.  Her mother says they had no reason to believe the dog could turn vicious, because it was walking about freely, and unleashed.  They had no way of knowing that the dog had been involved in other attacks before.

This little girl is looking at not just up to a month in hospital, undergoing extensive treatment for her mutilated throat and neck, but also a lifetime of trauma and fear because of this attack. In New Jersey, I often find that we are too quick to blame victims of dog bites without knowing all the facts. Many times, dogs that are involved in bite attacks have been involved in attacks earlier, and owners have failed to leash their dogs properly.  While no one is blaming the dog here, to any New Jersey dog bite lawyer, it would seem that the owner of the German Shepard was extremely negligent in letting a dog with a history of aggression walk about freely, and unleashed.

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