Of all the calls a parent can receive, one of the most terrifying is learning their child has been hurt. When that injury comes from a dog bite, especially to the face, the fear is immediate and overwhelming.
A child dog bite face injury is more than a wound; it is an event that can leave lasting physical and emotional scars, changing a child’s life in an instant. As you focus on your child’s well-being, questions about the future—from medical costs to long-term psychological care—can be daunting, which is why many families turn to a Kansas City dog bite lawyer for guidance.
If your child has suffered a dog bite facial injury, the legal team at DM Injury Law can help you understand your rights and potential for compensation to help you secure the resources your child needs to fully heal. Call (816) 888-7500 or contact us through our online form today for a free consultation.
Call (816) 888-7500 or contact us online today for a free consultation.
Key Takeaways for Child Dog Bite Face Injury
- A dog bite to a child’s face can result in significant physical and emotional trauma, often requiring extensive medical treatment.
- Compensation in these cases may cover current medical bills, future plastic surgery costs, psychological counseling, and damages for pain and suffering.
- The legal responsibility for a dog bite varies by state, with places like Missouri having “strict liability” laws and Kansas following a “one-bite rule.”
- Insurance policies, typically homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, are the primary source of financial recovery in dog bite claims.
The Lifelong Impact of a Child Dog Bite Face Injury
The visible wound is only the beginning. A dog bite on a child’s face presents a unique and complex set of challenges that can follow them for years, affecting their physical health, emotional stability, and social development. The journey to recovery is often long and involves much more than just initial stitches, something that is shaped in part by the protections and responsibilities outlined under dog bite law.
The physical consequences are profound. Facial scars can change as a child grows, sometimes becoming more prominent or causing tightness in the skin. This often means that one surgery is not enough. A comprehensive medical plan may involve multiple procedures over several years to minimize the scar’s appearance and restore function. These treatments can be painful, disruptive to a child’s life, and incredibly expensive.
Just as significant is the invisible, emotional trauma. A child dog bite face injury can lead to:
- Cynophobia: An intense and persistent fear of dogs, which can limit a child’s ability to visit friends, play at parks like Loose Park, or even walk comfortably down the street.
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): The child may experience flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety related to the traumatic event.
- Social Anxiety and Self-Consciousness: Facial scarring can make a child feel different from their peers, leading to withdrawal, depression, and difficulty forming relationships during crucial developmental years.
- Behavioral Changes: Parents often report seeing changes in their child, such as increased aggression, clinginess, or a regression in developmental milestones.
These deep-seated emotional wounds often require professional therapy and counseling to help the child process the trauma and build resilience.
Who Is Legally Responsible for a Dog Bite?
When a dog injures a child, determining who is legally and financially responsible is a critical step toward securing compensation. This legal responsibility is known as “liability,” and the specific laws governing it differ significantly by state. For families in the Kansas City metro area, which straddles two states, it’s important to understand the rules for both Missouri and Kansas, particularly how dog bite liability and insurance coverage influence the path to recovery.
Dog Bite Laws in Missouri
Missouri operates under a “strict liability” statute for dog bites, as outlined in the Revised Statutes of Missouri (RSMo) § 273.036. This law makes the legal process more straightforward for victims.
Here’s what strict liability means:
- Owner Is Responsible: The dog’s owner is automatically liable for the injuries their dog causes, regardless of whether the dog had ever shown aggressive tendencies before.
- No “One-Bite Rule”: It doesn’t matter if the dog had a perfectly clean record with no history of biting. The first bite is enough to hold the owner accountable.
- Location Matters: The law applies as long as the injured person was on public property or lawfully on private property (meaning they were not trespassing).
The only major exceptions are if the injured person was trespassing on the owner’s property or if they provoked the dog into attacking.
This law provides a strong foundation for a child dog bite face injury claim, placing the responsibility squarely on the dog owner.
Dog Bite Laws in Kansas
Kansas law is more complex and generally follows a “one-bite rule,” which is based on the legal principle of negligence. This means that to hold an owner liable, you often must prove they knew, or should have known, that their dog was dangerous, which is why knowing what to do after a dog bite becomes so important for building a strong claim.
Here’s what that typically involves:
- Proving Negligence: You must show that the dog’s owner failed to use reasonable care to prevent the attack.
- Evidence of Prior Aggression: This could include evidence that the dog had bitten someone before, frequently growled or lunged at people, or was known in the neighborhood as being aggressive.
- Violating Leash Laws: If the owner violated a local leash ordinance and the dog bit someone as a result, that can also be used as evidence of negligence.
While some Kansas statutes address dogs that cause harm, the core of most cases relies on proving the owner’s knowledge of the dog’s potential danger. This can make these cases more challenging than in strict liability states.
Other Potentially Liable Parties
In some situations, someone other than the dog’s owner could be held responsible. This might include a landlord who knew a tenant was keeping a dangerous dog in violation of the lease, a property manager who failed to address complaints about an aggressive animal, or a dog sitter who had temporary custody and control of the animal when the attack occurred.
Calculating a Child Facial Scarring Settlement
No amount of money can erase what your child has gone through, but a fair settlement can provide the financial resources necessary for their complete recovery. A child facial scarring settlement is calculated by adding up all the past, present, and future costs associated with the injury. These costs, or “damages,” are divided into two main categories.
Call (816) 888-7500 or contact us online today for a free consultation.
Economic Damages: The Tangible Costs
Economic damages are the specific, calculable financial losses resulting from the child dog bite face injury. These are documented with bills, receipts, and expert financial projections, and families often question whether their insurance cover dog bites and how that affects recovery.
- Initial Medical Bills: This includes everything from the ambulance ride and emergency room treatment to hospitalization, stitches, and consultations with specialists.
- Future Medical Care and Plastic Surgery Costs: Facial scars on a growing child often require multiple future surgeries. Compensation should account for projected dog bite plastic surgery costs, which may include scar revision procedures, dermabrasion, laser treatments, and skin grafts. Medical and financial experts may be needed to accurately estimate these lifelong expenses.
- Psychological Counseling: The cost of therapy for PTSD, anxiety, and depression is a recoverable damage. This can include play therapy for younger children and traditional counseling for teens.
- Lost Parental Wages: If you had to take unpaid time off work to care for your child, transport them to appointments, or stay with them in the hospital, those lost wages can be included in the claim.
These are just a few examples of the direct financial impact that must be carefully calculated and accounted for.
Non-Economic Damages: The Intangible Impact
Non-economic damages compensate for the profound, non-financial ways the injury has affected your child’s life. While harder to assign a dollar value to, they are arguably the most significant component of a child facial scarring settlement.
These damages include:
- Pain and Suffering: Compensation for the physical pain of the injury itself, as well as the discomfort of medical treatments and the recovery process.
- Emotional Distress: This addresses the fear, anxiety, and trauma your child has experienced as a result of the attack.
- Disfigurement and Scarring: This specifically compensates for the permanent alteration of your child’s appearance and the emotional and social challenges that come with visible facial scarring.
- Loss of Enjoyment of Life: If the injury prevents your child from participating in activities they once loved, such as sports, social events, or simply playing outside without fear, this loss can be compensated.
Because these damages are so significant for a child facing a lifetime with a visible scar, they often represent a substantial portion of the final settlement.
The Role of Homeowner’s Insurance in Dog Bite Claims
When seeking compensation for a child dog bite face injury, the claim is almost always filed against the dog owner’s homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policy. These policies typically include liability coverage that protects the policyholder from personal injury claims that occur on their property or are caused by their negligence—including dog bites, which is often at the center of how families settle a dog bite claim.
However, dealing with the insurance process can be challenging. Insurance companies are businesses, and their primary goal is to protect their bottom line by paying out as little as possible. An adjuster may try to offer a quick, low settlement before you understand the full extent of your child’s future medical needs. It is also important to be aware of policy limits, which is the maximum amount the insurance company will pay. If your child’s damages exceed this limit, it may be necessary to explore other legal avenues to recover the full amount.
Furthermore, some insurance policies have breed-specific exclusions, meaning they will not cover bites from certain breeds like Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, or German Shepherds. This can complicate a claim but does not necessarily mean recovery is impossible.
FAQs: Child Dog Bite Face Injury
Here are answers to some common questions parents have after their child has been injured by a dog.
What if the dog belonged to a friend or family member?
This is a very common and difficult situation. It is important to remember that a claim is typically made against their homeowner’s insurance policy, not their personal assets. Filing a claim is often the only way to access the funds needed for your child’s extensive medical care, and it does not have to ruin a personal relationship.
How long do we have to file a claim for a child’s injury?
Each state has a legal deadline, called a statute of limitations, for filing a personal injury lawsuit. However, these deadlines are often extended for minors. The clock may not start ticking until the child turns 18. Because these rules are complex, it is best to discuss the specific timeline for your case with an attorney.
Will my child have to testify in court?
Most personal injury cases are settled out of court. An attorney’s goal is to negotiate a fair settlement without the need for a trial. In the rare event a case does go to court, there are special provisions to make the process as gentle as possible for a child witness, and understanding the average dog bite injury settlement amount can help families know what to expect.
Does it matter if my child was playing with the dog before the bite?
In most cases, no. Children cannot be expected to understand a dog’s warning signals. Unless there was clear, intentional provocation—which is extremely rare for a child—playing with a dog is not a valid defense for the dog’s owner, especially in a strict liability state like Missouri.
What if the dog owner doesn’t have insurance?
This makes recovery more difficult, but not impossible. An attorney can investigate whether the owner has other assets that could be used to satisfy a judgment. In some cases, other parties, like a landlord, may also be held liable.
Put a Team of Dog Bite Injury Lawyers on Your Side
Seeing your child suffer from a dog bite injury to the face is a traumatic experience, often leaving you with legal and financial burdens. At DM Injury Law, our firm is built to support families like yours. With a team of approximately 70 attorneys and 250 support staff members, we have the resources and focus to handle every aspect of your case, allowing you to concentrate on what matters most: your child’s healing.
We understand the immense costs associated with facial injuries, from the initial emergency care to future plastic surgeries and long-term therapy. We work on a contingency fee basis, which means you pay nothing unless and until we recover compensation for your family. If we don’t win, you don’t pay. Let us fight for the justice and financial security your child deserves.
Contact us today at (816) 888-7500 or through our online form to discuss your case in a free, no-obligation consultation.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is different and must be evaluated on its own facts.
Call (816) 888-7500 or contact us online today for a free consultation.