During a routine trip to Wal-Mart, and eight-year-old girl was injured in Springfield, Missouri. The little girl was walking through the Wal-Mart parking lot accompanied by her father when she saw a Macaque Monkey sitting in a parked vehicle. The girl was curious of the monkey so she approached the vehicle and the monkey attacked her.

The little girl was taken to a local hospital to be treated for injuries to her forehead. She was given an antibiotic and antiviral as a precaution because the physicians did know if the monkey transmitted any diseases to the girl. Macaque monkeys are known to carry diseases such as herpes, tuberculosis, and hepatitis and they can infect humans with a bite or a scratch.

The monkey's owner told police that the animal only lashed out because it felt threatened by the little girl. Springfield, Missouri's animal control quarantined the monkey to watch for any signs of disease. The owner of the macaque monkey was written a ticket for the violation of the City of Springfield's ordinance against exotic pets.

Children are commonly injured by dog bites, but clearly dogs are not the only animals that pose a threat to children. If a dog or any other pet has bitten you or your child and you have not had a tetanus shot in the last five years, see a doctor immediately. If a pet has bitten you, you also have legal rights against the owner of the dog. Contact our personal injury attorneys in Missouri at 888.956.2487.

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Joshua P. Myers is the owner and President of Myers Injury Law, LLC and a founding partner of Schultz & Myers, LLC.  Based in St. Louis, Missouri, his personal injury law firm routinely handles product liability cases that result in personal injury or death throughout the United States. If you have been hurt or have lost a loved one due to the negligence of a drug company, please contact a product liability attorney to learn your rights. It is always free to discuss your case and there are never any attorney's fees until we recover on your behalf.

A dog is supposed to be a man's best friend, but there are many cases of dog bites every year. As a Missouri personal injury attorney, I want to make sure everyone knows the dangers of a dog bite. According to the National Institute of Health any dog bite victim should have a tetanus shot if his or her skin is broken by a bite, especially if he or she has not had a tetanus shot in the last five years.

 

Tetanus is an infection of the nervous system by bacterium that can be potentially fatal. The bacterium is typically released into the body through a dog bite, but symptoms do not usually begin to show until seven to 21 days after the time of the bite. Tetanus usually begins with minor spasms in the jaw known as lockjaw. These spasms, in some cases, also effect the muscles that we use to control breathing. Other symptoms of tetanus include fever, drooling, difficulty swallowing, hand or foot spasms, and incontinence.

 

Unfortunately, without treatment one in four of those who are infected with tetanus from a dog bite will die. If the wound that caused the tetanus is on the head or the face, it is even more dangerous than wounds to other parts of the body. However, with proper treatment, less than 10 percent of those infected will have no remaining effects. Treatment can include antibiotics, muscle relaxers, sedatives, bed rest, surgery, and breathing support.

 

If you have been bitten by a dog and you have not had a tetanus shot in the last five years, see a doctor immediately. If you have been bitten by a dog, you also have legal rights against the owner of the dog. Contact our personal injury attorneys in Missouri at 888.956.2487.

 

Joshua P. Myers is the owner and President of Myers Injury Law, LLC and a founding partner of Schultz & Myers, LLC.  Based in St. Louis, Missouri, his personal injury law firm routinely handles product liability cases that result in personal injury or death throughout the United States. If you have been hurt or have lost a loved one due to the negligence of a drug company, please contact a product liability attorney to learn your rights. It is always free to discuss your case and there are never any attorney's fees until we recover on your behalf.

When children are young, it can be difficult to teach them the how dangerous a dog can be. As a Missouri Dog Bite Attorney based in St. Louis, I was not surprised to find out that younger children are more like to be bitten by a dog than any other age group. Not all dogs are dangerous but not all dogs are friendly and parents need to teach their children this at a young age to protect them. According to the Los Angeles times, a study found that younger children are most vulnerable to a dog bite when they are left by themselves. Even the family dog could pose a threat, so it is important that parents monitor the interaction between their children and their pet.

The University of Colorado studied 537 children between the ages of infant and 18 who had been treated at the Denver Children's Hospital for dog bites. The study took place between 2003 and 2008 where 68% of the dog bite cases were in children under the age of five. It came as a surprise to the researchers that most of the children were bitten by a dog that they knew with over 50% being family pets and the rest belonged to relatives, friends, or neighbors.

When we hear that a child has been attacked by a dog, we all immediately think of a dangerous breed. According to the study, the most common dog bite came from a mix of canine breeds. German Shepherds, Labs, and Rottweiler were second in line for number of dog bites based on breed. Pit Bull dogs have been given a bad name, but the study did not cover the breed because they are not allowed in Denver. In most cases the dog attack occurred when the children were playing too hard, scared the pet, or made the dog feel threatened.

Although we may feel like our dogs are harmless, it is important to remember that they will instinctively attack if they feel like they are in danger. In order to protect your children from a dog attack from a familiar pet, parents need to teach them how to play and treat the dog. You may not be able to protect your child from every dog attack, but you can protect them from the dogs they know and love. If you or your child is bitten due to an animal owner's negligence, please contact an experienced personal injury attorney soon after. The law only allows five years for a dog bite victim to file a personal injury claim so do not put it off for too long. Call 888.956.2487 for a free consultation to discuss your right as a dog bite victim.

Joshua P. Myers is the owner and President of Myers Injury Law, LLC and a founding partner of Schultz & Myers, LLC.  Based in St. Louis, Missouri, his St. Louis personal injury law firm routinely handles personal injury claims for dog bites that result in personal injury or death in Missouri and Illinois. If you have been hurt or lost a loved one due to the negligence of a dog owner, please contact a personal injury attorney to learn your rights. It is always free to discuss your case and there are never any attorney's fees until we recover on your behalf.

A dog is supposed to be man's best friend, but sometimes they can be dangerous too. Dogs have been domesticated for centuries, but in the last several years there have been numerous reports of dogs attacking people. As a Missouri Dog Bite Lawyer, I have fought against many dog owners who were liable for my client's dog bite injuries. Not all dogs are dangerous, but it is the owner's responsibility to make sure their animal does not cause harm to another person.

 

The story of an 84-year-old minister in Missouri who died as a result of an animal attack recently caught my attention. Rev. John Reynolds and his son, John Reynolds Jr., owned 17 pit bulls in Callaway County. Reynolds Jr. found his father in the dog's pen severely injured from animal bites, which he later died from. When the son arrived, 16 of the dogs were loose. One dog did not leave the pen because it was also wounded from animal bites.

 

Rev. Reynolds loved his dogs and always insisted to his family that the pit bulls had a calm nature. He was never concerned of his safety when it came to his dogs. The Reverend's son does not believe that the pit bulls are the cause of his father's death. He believes that a pack of stray dogs or a mountain lion attacked the pit bulls and his father. Since the owner of the property died from his injuries, no charges will be filed and the dogs will remain on the property because the county can't handle that many dogs.

 

There are over 500,000 reports of a dog bite each year in the United States and 12 reports of dog bite fatalities. In the event of a dog bite, the owner of the dog could face a civil lawsuit because they are liable for their animal. There are many factors in dog bite cases such as if the dog was provoked, previous knowledge of the dog's aggressive behavior, or the county where the bite took place. There is a statute of limitation on dog bite cases that limits the amount of time to file a lawsuit. The statute of limitations for a dog bite is 5 years, so please call an experienced St. Louis dog bite attorney to help protect your rights as a victim. Call 888.956.2487 for a free consultation to discuss your dog bite claim.

 

Joshua P. Myers is the owner and President of Myers Injury Law, LLC and a founding partner of Schultz & Myers, LLC.  Based in St. Louis, Missouri, his personal injury law firm routinely handles personal injury claims for dog bites that result in personal injury or death in Missouri and Illinois. If you have been hurt or lost a loved one due to the negligence of a dog owner, please contact a personal injury attorney to learn your rights. It is always free to discuss your case and there are never any attorney's fees until we recover on your behalf.

 

Mans' best friend is not always friendly. You know what I am talking about I am sure: dogs. Many people get great comfort out of the companionship of a dog. Others keep dogs for less admirable purposes, amongst these are the desire to appear tough by demonstrating mastery over a snarling beast or to protect their property. Still others keep dogs for sporting purposes. Dogs are pack animals and take their orders from the leader of the pack. That is not you - Joe Public - nor is it your child who unsuspectingly toddles up to a dog. Hence we have millions of people suffering dog bites each year in the USA. Luckily, they are not all the kinds of attack that leave the victim damaged for life.

People have kept dogs for centuries. However, in recent years there have been many reports of dogs attacking, mauling and even killing people. Are we hearing these reports because the media loves to report scary stories, or have we bred our favorite dogs to the point that they exhibit nervous traits that make them unreliable?

Whatever the reason, as a St. Louis Dog Bite Lawyer, I have seen the consequences of a dog using its powerful jaws against the soft flesh of a fellow human being. Whether the dog has a history of violence or not, these victims deserve the chance to make their case in court and receive compensation. Think about it, some dogs are bred to fight lions or bulls; they have no trouble dealing with humans. Sometimes the victims of dog bites face years of reconstructive surgery, and others are traumatized for the rest of their lives.

In the past, the owner was only liable for the injuries or damage done by their dogs if there was a history of aggression or violence on the part of the dog. Thankfully, it is no longer necessary to establish a history of aggression in Missouri. In 2009, the Missouri legislature quietly changed the laws that hold the owner of a dog is automatically responsible for the harm his or her dog inflicts regardless of any past history of aggression.  

Now, this new law does not mean, in the short term, that you are safer from biting dogs. But, long term it may. As more and more people successfully prosecute the owners of aggressive dogs with the help of a Missouri Dog Bite Lawyer such as myself , it seems reasonable to anticipate that dog owners will take care to restrain their dogs to ensure the public's safety.

In the meantime, take care around dogs, your own as well as strangers' dogs. There are cases where small children have been mauled or even killed by the family pet. Protect your family and you may never need my services, but if you do, I will fight to get you what the law now allows me to fight for, compensation from the owners of all biting dog.

 

As a Missouri dog bite lawyer based in St. Louis, I've seen many serious injuries which occurred from a dog attack.  The majority of the times, people call me expecting we'd have no problem obtaining payment to cover their medical bills and injuries as a result of being attacked by someone else's dog.  Over the year, I have seen many brutal attacks.  These have often resulted in surgery to repair the wounds.  These surgeries often cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.

                However, what many people were surprised to find out was that under Missouri law, dog bite owners traditionally were not automatically responsible.  Additionally, Missouri does not employ a "one bite rule" as many others mistakenly believe.  The so-called "one bite rule", is commonly understood to mean that the dog's owner is automatically responsible if their dog has previously bitten someone.  Rather, the traditional rule in Missouri has been that the dog owner was responsible if they have prior knowledge of their dog's dangerous propensities.  Now, often this was satisfied if we could show that there was a prior bite.  However, this was not a requirement.  Additionally, there were other ways to prove liability in dog attack injury cases.  This included utilizing municipal leash laws when the dog bite occurred off of the owner's property and the dog was not restrained on a leash.  However, under these laws, I had to pass on representing many victims of severe dog bite injuries because we could not find any evidence of a prior attack or anything that would prove prior knowledge of dangerous propensities.  Of course, in dog bite cases, the owner hardly ever admits to knowing about a prior bite.  In fact, I remember one dog bite case where we found out from a neighbor that the dog had previously jumped the fence and bit her in the throat.  She even had pictures of the dog's bite marks on her throat.  Yet when I deposed the dog's owners, they continued to deny the prior bite.  When I confronted them with the pictures that the neighbor had taken of her throat, which occurred before the dog attacked my client, they simply waved it off and said it looked more like a scratch from the dog's nails.  (Regardless, we ultimately settled the case for $75,000.00). 

                However, what few people are now aware of is that the Missouri Legislature quietly passed a law in 2009 which now holds dog owners automatically responsible for the dog bites.  Essentially, the law eliminates the old "dangerous propensities" standard.  In today's era of tort reform, it is very seldom that we see a law passed which actually protects injury victims.  In fact, I've been shocked at how little publicity there has been surrounding this law.  Even yesterday, I was speaking with a very experienced Missouri injury lawyer who was unaware of this new development.

                Simply put, Missouri's dog bite laws have now changed to hold the dog bite owner automatically responsible, however, regardless of any prior attacks.  If you have been attacked or bitten by a dog, make sure your St. Louis dog bite lawyer is familiar with these new laws.  They should often be familiar with the aggressive tendencies of breeds such as Pit Bulls, Rottweilers and German Shepherds.  While certainly these breeds are not always dangerous, they are the breeds that we see most often in dog bite injury cases. 

                If you've been attacked and injured by a dog and wish to speak to a top Missouri dog bite attorney, feel free to contact Josh Myers at 888.956.2487 or 314.720.2706.  Based in St. Louis, Missouri, he handles dog bite cases in all of Missouri and Illinois.  It's always free to discuss your case and there are never any retainer hourly fees.  Rather, his fee is a percentage of the amount he recovers on your behalf.  If there is no recovery, there is no attorney fee.