Why Provocation Is Such a Major Issue in Dog Bite Cases
Being bitten by a dog can devastate your life. Even small bites can lead to infection if not cared for properly. The lost work and resulting fear of going near the area where the dog is can prevent you from moving on.
If a dog bites you and causes distress, you likely have a case against the dog's owner. However, if it's shown that you provoked the dog—so the dog was biting back to defend itself—then you don't have a case in South Carolina. You need the help of a lawyer to successfully prove your case.
You Have No Case if You Provoked the Dog
If you provoke a dog in South Carolina, and that dog bites you, you don't have a claim against the dog owner. That dog's owner is not liable at all. The reasoning is basically that you called this trouble upon yourself.
Provocation is tricky because it isn't always obvious. If you're hitting the dog or screaming at it when it hasn't done anything, those are pretty blatant examples of provoking the dog into biting you in self-defense. But if you're petting the dog, that doesn't seem so bad, right?
Not necessarily. If the dog is trying to shy away from you and keep away, and you keep advancing and touching it, you're not acknowledging the signals the dog is sending. Those signals are very much on the side of "leave the dog alone."
Dog owners know this and may accuse you of provoking the dog after a bite. You have to prove that your actions were not over the line.
If a Child Was Bitten, That Could Be Different
If your child was the one bitten, you have additional details to deal with. Older children are generally treated like adults in that they know what they're doing when they go near a dog. If an older child hits a dog, for example, it's generally presumed the child knew what they were doing.
Younger children, however, may not be as cognizant. A toddler may not realize that hitting a live dog is not the same as hitting a toy dog, resulting in the child being bitten. But the dog owner might be able to claim that the child provoked the dog because that child should have been under your control.
Don't Say Anything Until You've Discussed This With a Lawyer
Because dog bite lawsuits may rest on the tiniest details, you don't want to say anything about the bite or respond to any claims of provocation until you speak with a lawyer. Don't post on social media, either, as your comments there can change the course of your case, too. What seems like an innocent statement to you, or one that's not so innocent but seemingly understandable when you're in pain, could be the key that allows the dog's owner to avoid liability.
Lawyers do go through the opposing party's public social media accounts, looking for clues that the party's claims are unfounded or false. According to the American Bar Association, a lawyer can get the court to order that someone turn over private social media accounts, too. That means making your accounts private and then commenting on the case isn't necessarily going to protect you.
If you or your child has been bitten by a dog, you need to contact the Maxwell Law Firm as soon as you can. Keep all medical records, and if you have video of the incident, save that and protect it from accidental deletion. If that bite was bad and you need compensation for medical bills, lost work, or distress, you will need all the evidence you can get to show that you didn't provoke the dog.
