Chicago Accident and Injury Lawyer Blog

The personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Jeffrey J. Kroll are experienced at handling dog bite cases. If you are bit by a dog, you may have grounds to take legal action against the dog's owner. The Illinois Animal Control Act, 510 ILCS 5/16, states:

If a dog or other animal, without provocation, attacks, attempts to attack, or injures any person who is peaceably conducting himself or herself in any place where he or she may lawfully be, the owner of such dog or other animal is liable in civil damages to such person for the full amount of the injury proximately caused thereby.

According the U.S. Centers for Disease Control data on dog bites, 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year. In 2006, more than 31,000 people underwent reconstructive surgery as a result of being bitten by dogs. Sadly, most of the victims who receive medical attention are children. Many children are bitten in the face, causing permanent disfigurement.

Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People, has compiled statistics and has presented a detailed study of dog bites for the last two decades. Importantly, Mr. Clifton emphasizes the dangerous behavior of pit bills and Rottweilers and remarks:

[I]t is sheer foolishness to encourage people to regard pit bull terriers and Rottweilers as just dogs like any other, no matter how much they may behave like dogs under ordinary circumstances. Temperament is not the issue, nor is it even relevant. What is relevant is actuarial risk. If almost any other dog has a bad moment, someone may get bitten, but will not be maimed for life or killed, and the actuarial risk is accordingly reasonable. [However,] if a pit bull terrier or a Rottweiler has a bad moment, often someone is maimed or killed, and that has now created off the chart actuarial risk, for which the dogs as well as their victims are paying the price.