I have two dog bite cases active right now, and both involve insurance companies behaving in ways I genuinely don’t understand. Since I’ve recovered seven figures plus for the victims of dog bites in Kentucky — and seen hundreds of these cases — I want to walk through what’s happening, because it tells you a lot about how these claims actually play out.
Case One: The Lowball, Then the Stall
The first case involves a very bad injury to a small child’s hand.
The original offer was insulting. We sent over formal discovery requests — standard stuff, the kind of information we’re legally entitled to. And then… nothing. They’ve been dragging their feet getting us responses.
Whenever an insurance company doesn’t want to give you something, there’s a reason. Usually it’s that the information will make their case worse.
Recently they called back and floated, “What if we could get you way more than the original offer?”
Sure, we’re always willing to talk money. But not in exchange for skipping the information we’re entitled to. If they want to settle, they need to make us an offer we can’t refuse — not just one slightly better than the insulting one. And if they don’t want to do that, we’ll wait until discovery makes them hand it over anyway.
Case Two: The Inexplicable Standoff
The second case is one of the top three or four worst dog bite injuries I’ve ever seen. Horrific bite to the leg. Scarring. The works.
Kentucky is a non-disclosure state on dog bite insurance — meaning the dog owner’s insurance company doesn’t have to give us policy limit information up front. We have to file suit and get it through discovery.
I called the carrier before filing. I said, in so many words: we can do this the easy way (give us the info, let’s settle this) or the hard way (we file suit, we get the info anyway, and now your insured’s personal assets are on the line if we hit a verdict above their policy limits).
They chose the hard way.
I’ve litigated against this carrier before. I’ve tried a dog bite case against them where they lowballed and then we hit them for significantly more at trial. So they know what happens when they dig in.
I don’t know what they’re doing. Maybe internal miscommunication. Maybe they think I’m bluffing. Either way — lawsuit filed. We’ll see them in court.
Where Things Stand
These are the two dog bite cases I’m working on this week in Kentucky. One carrier dragging its feet on discovery, one carrier inexplicably calling a bluff I’ve already cashed in before. I don’t know what they’re doing if they’re not communicating one way or the other, but we’ll see how it plays out.
Two Dog Bite Cases — https://www.tiktok.com/@dettmanlawinjurylawyer/video/7641304795633962254
@dettmanlawinjurylawyer Working on dog bite litigation cases. I have recovered seven figures plus for the victims of dog bites in Kentucky. It is a practice area I do all the time so I shouldn’t be surprised, but some insurance companies are 🤯. Looks like they want to learn the hard way! #animalattack#dogbite#litigation#injurylawyer#lawyersoftiktok♬ original sound – dettmanlawinjurylawyer
