Dog attack compensation claim - £9k awarded to woman who was bitten by a dog whilst delivering electoral register documents for local council
Boyes Turner’s personal injury lawyers secured £9k in compensation for a woman who was attacked by a dog whilst employed as an electoral register canvasser for her local Council. She was delivering a legal document to an address and as she posted the document through the letter box she was bitten by the occupier’s dog.
Although liability was denied our lawyers obtained evidence showing that other people had also been bitten by the same dog prior to our client’s accident in similar circumstances. The Defendants then admitted liability.
Dog Bite Injury
Our client sustained a dog bite to her right index finger causing severe damage to the ligaments and nerves and also a fracture to the finger. She has been left with a disfigured and scarred finger which now has restricted movement. She also sustained other less serious bites to her ring and little fingers leaving scarring. She is likely to be partially disabled on a permanent basis with a total loss of hand function of around 10%.
She continued to suffer pain in the fingers and the antibiotics made her ill in the stomach for about 6 months. She also suffered from stress because her husband suffers from emphysema and she was his main carer. She attended hand physiotherapy for about 3 weeks for instructions and advice about how to mobilise the digits. She wore a “mallet splint” on her index finger to correct the deformity on and off for about 6 months.
Long term repercussions
Our client suffers from psychological symptoms as a result of the incident and had to give up her temporary job of delivering electoral notices for the Council. Carrying out various household chores was difficult for 12 months due to stiff fingers and poor grip, for example she found it difficult to lift utensils from the oven and she was unable to do any gardening for 9 months. Lifting and carrying shopping was also difficult for 6 months.
An independent expert has confirmed that she will be partially disabled on a permanent basis and her symptoms/complaints will not completely disappear even after a long time. The total loss of hand function in our client’s case is 9%.
Click here to read about more animal attack compensation claims we have resolved on behalf of our clients.
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