House Painter Bitten by Dog…
Mission Viejo: The Big Problem of Dog Bites and Dog Attacks in Mission Viejo, California

by Jon Mitchell Jackson/ Jackson & Wilson
www.MissionViejoDogBiteLawyer.com
2009 Orange County Trial Lawyer of the Year

Each year dozens of people who live in Mission Viejo, California, become dog bite victims. Across the United States, almost 5,000,000 people are bitten or attacked by dogs and 334,000 dog bite and dog attack victims require emergency medical treatment.

Most Mission Viejo dog bite and dog attack victims are not aware of the fact that on a daily basis, more than 1,000 dog bite and dog attack victims are treated in hospital emergency rooms such as Mission Viejo Medical Center and Saddleback Hospital. About 15-20 of these dog bite attacks result in death.

Dog bites and dog attacks result in approximately 44,000 facial injuries each year with the face and hands being the most injured body parts. This represents more than 1,000 emergency room visits each day.

Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States seeks medical attention for a dog bite. Most of the Mission Viejo dog bite and dog attack victims are children and nationally, children are injured more than anyone else (about 60 percent of all dog bite or dog attack victims). Male patients slightly outnumber females.

Mission Viejo’s dog bite and dog attack figures add to the approximate 800,000 dog bites per year in the United States that require medical treatment. With the victims who are children, most of them are bitten on the face. And also as in Mission Viejo, about 70 percent of dog bites occur on the owner’s property or in a victim’s neighborhood.

Strict liability law provides that the Mission Viejo dog bite owner is liable for the damages suffered by any Mission Viejo resident who is bitten by the dog while in a public place or lawfully in a private place located in Mission Viejo. This includes the dog owner’s property located in Mission Viejo, regardless of the prior viciousness of the dog or the owner’s knowledge of that viciousness. Contrary to what many people believe, there is no one bite rule in Mission Viejo or California in general.

In Mission Viejo, a person who keeps or has control of an animal (including a dog) may be held liable under the dangerous animal rule and for negligence for all sustained injuries and damages to other Mission Viejo residents. This may apply even if the dog is partly under the care of others.

It is important to note that more than half of all dog bite and dog attack victims in Mission Viejo are children who are usually attacked in the face. For every fatal dog bite in the United States, there are about 230,000 bites that are not treated by a physician. Most Mission Viejo dog bite victims fail to seek medical attention at either Mission Hospital or Saddleback Hospital.

About 40 percent of all Mission Viejo residents own at least one dog and this figure also applies to other cities across America. This means that there are more than 55 million dogs in the United States. And in Mission Viejo, a majority of dog bite attacks happen at home or at a neighbors house in the presence of family and friends.

In Mission Viejo, Rottweillers and Pit Bulls lead the pack in numbers when it comes to dog bite maiming and deaths. Eight out of ten dog bites in Mission Viejo involve a male dog. In the United States, dog bite and dog attack related losses exceed $1 billion dollars per year!