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Suppose you asked your neighbor friend to feed and let your dog out while you're on vacation. Your dog bites the neighbor's hand, unprovoked. It's not a SERIOUS injury, but there was a lot of blood and it did require medical attention. Out of pocket expenses for the injury were under $50.00. Would you:
1.) Offer to reimburse only the amount of out of pocket expenses.
2.) Round it up to a higher number or perhaps give something additional such as a gift card or tickets
to a baseball game.
3.) Turn it over to your homeowner's insurance company.
Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 11 days ago)
35,637 posts, read 17,989,189 times
Reputation: 50679
Quote:
Originally Posted by Winter Sucks
Suppose you asked your neighbor friend to feed and let your dog out while you're on vacation. Your dog bites the neighbor's hand, unprovoked. It's not a SERIOUS injury, but there was a lot of blood and it did require medical attention. Out of pocket expenses for the injury were under $50.00. Would you:
1.) Offer to reimburse only the amount of out of pocket expenses.
2.) Round it up to a higher number or perhaps give something additional such as a gift card or tickets
to a baseball game.
3.) Turn it over to your homeowner's insurance company.
If this required medical attention, they've probably had to report your dog as a biter.
Suppose you asked your neighbor friend to feed and let your dog out while you're on vacation. Your dog bites the neighbor's hand, unprovoked. It's not a SERIOUS injury, but there was a lot of blood and it did require medical attention. Out of pocket expenses for the injury were under $50.00. Would you:
1.) Offer to reimburse only the amount of out of pocket expenses.
2.) Round it up to a higher number or perhaps give something additional such as a gift card or tickets
to a baseball game.
3.) Turn it over to your homeowner's insurance company.
The bold for sure and count your lucky stars that's as far as it went. Also agree to pay for any future medical care as others have mentioned.
Some medical professionals will report any dog bite to the authorities. I had one tell me it was a requirement. If your neighbor would have reported the bite and animal control would have come, the dog would be quarantined at a minimum and would probably have been deemed a "vicious" dog regardless of how small the bite was. If there was ever another bite reported for your dog, they would likely put the dog down.
Your homeowner's insurance will likely cancel after paying the claim if you report a dog bite. They may also report the bite to the authorities.
Do everything you can to make the neighbor feel compensated and to express your regret. Do NOT turn it over to your insurance company unless you absolutely must. It will cost you long after that bite and even after the dog has passed away if your home owner's insurance co gets involved. You will go into a high risk pool. Good luck.
Homeowners insurance for a $50 incident? Someone has WAY too low a deductible. Since insurers are known for canceling people after just a couple claims, no way would I turn this in even if my deductible was low enough.
Apologize profusely, pay the out-of-pocket expenses, send a gift, and offer to pay for any future medical care if necessary.
You're trying to avoid a lawsuit as well as a lot of bad feelings. This is not a time to be cheap.
This.
Did the neighbor report this to the doctor as a dog bite? I’d imagine they would have to run tests to make sure the person didn’t catch anything from the dog. Labs are almost always a separate bill. There will probably be at least a follow-up visit to see how the injury has healed. Was there any medication prescribed? Point being, you may have to cover more than the initial ER co-pay. Put the offer out there to cover it all.
Also, if your neighbor stated it was a dog bite (can’t imagine why they wouldn’t have), it may have been reported. In some areas, it’s mandatory. Animal Control will probably pay a visit if it is.
Homeowners insurance would depend what that coverage entails, namely penalties for bites. Some only cover for the first incident meaning if your dog ever bit someone in the future you would be on hook to cover expenses and any other penalties. Plus what is your deductible? Is it worth it? Of course, nothing is preventing this neighbor from making a claim on their own at this point if that’s what they preferred to do. If this neighbor seems open to a reasonable settlement of the issue (like stated above in the quote), then there may not be a need to involve homeowners insurance
This is just opinion. I am not an attorney. Hope this situation works out for everyone involved and I do hope the neighbor is really okay.
The guy let his dog roam without a leash, and it was a big nasty looking shepherd and it bit my a@@ unprovoked. He didn't even apologize and barely even bothered to grab the dog.
F@ckin' rednecks.
It bled and bruised pretty badly but healed 100%. Anyway, I never said anything even though I totally could have in that situation. I didn't know the guy from Adam and he was kind of a d@ck. I didn't want them to kill the dog even though it wanted to kill me.
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