How Our St. Louis Dog Bite Lawyers Handle Your Case Information

Dog Bite Cases

Properly opened, a Missouri dog bite file can take on a life of its own. A dog bite case is like a puzzle in that many pieces are used to complete the picture. Because of this, our St. Louis dog bite injury attorneys have put together a standard operating procedure for handling new dog bite files. The procedure below works well for dog bites, serious dog attacks, and other animal bites and attacks.

Below is a brief summary of one way to open a Missouri dog bite case file. A properly opened file leads to consistent excellence in handling a dog bite case.

The client stories, though based upon cases handled by this office, are representative only and should not be viewed as an assurance of a particular result. Each case must stand on its own facts and circumstances. No representation is made that the quality of the legal service to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.

How Does the Firm Handle My Missouri Dog Bite Case?

Immediately after a dog bite client signs a contingent fee contract, the attorneys at our firm do the following:

1. Create a label with the following information:
   • Dog bite victim’s name;
   • Dog bite victim’s address;
   • Dog bite victim’s phone numbers;
   • Dog bite victim’s alternate contacts;
   • Dog bite victim’s date of birth;
   • Date of Incident;
   • Dog bite victim’s social security number;
   • The referring lawyer; and
   • The lawyer handling the personal injury case.
2. Ask the dog bite victim to fill out a New Client Information Packet.
3. Send a letter to the police department where the dog attack or personal injury occurred asking for any reports that were filed.
4. Send a letter to animal control where the dog attack or personal injury occurred asking for any reports that were filed.
5. Send a lien letter to the dog owner and the dog owner’s insurance company.
6. Depending on the case, send a letter to the Missouri dog bite victim’s health insurance company to see if they will be seeking a subrogation for medical bills paid.
7. Send a letter to John Page’s private investigator instructing him to take photos and take recorded statements from everyone with knowledge of the dog bite or personal injury.
8. Send requests to Plaintiff’s medical providers immediately. Be careful and make sure you request all records and bills. Many surgeries have numerous bills related to them. For one surgery, the hospital and the surgeon typically bill separately.
9. In addition, MRI’s, X-ray’s, and CT scans are often billed separately. Our dog bite lawyers use a medical records company to request the medical records and bills quickly.

If these 8 steps are taken when the dog bite victim first signs a contract, the file will grow on its own. Obviously some personal injury cases may require a variation from the outline above.

What to do with Incoming Documents in a Missouri Dog Bite Claim

The Missouri attorneys at our firm are fortunate in that many lawyers across the United States refer personal injury cases to them. Often times the files from referring attorneys are in shambles. Police reports mixed with medical records which are mixed with pleadings, etc. Below is a very simple format that attorneys at Page Law follow to maintain consistent excellence in their dog bite file organization.

Our St. Louis dog bite lawyers open case files using a Bindertek binder. Bindertek binders hold much more material than other binders of the same size. The files are divided into the following sections:

• Dog Bite Correspondence (all letters, faxes, and emails that are sent and received);
• Dog Bite Notes (police reports, statements, tax returns, and everything else that does not have a place in another section — but each item is tabbed);
• Dog Bite Medical Records;
• Dog Bite Medical Bills;
• Dog Bite Pleadings (number them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…newest on top);
  • (Place a cover sheet in the front of the pleading section so you can handwrite the name of the pleading with the corresponding number for easy identification)
• Dog Bite Liens (update every few months.)

Obviously, this is a rough outline of where to file documents in a newly opened Missouri dog bite lawsuit file. Every file is started the same way but each file expands differently. As a personal injury dog bite case grows and more material comes in, more binders are added.

If you know a Missouri dog bite case is going to be document intensive, it is best to add additional binders from the start. Typically in that situation, the attorneys will start a separate binder for each of the 6 categories listed above.