If a rat bites you, what should you do? The first step would be to treat it and, afterwards, you should consider how this situation came about. If it arose due to someone else’s lack of care and attention, you could consider animal injury claims. After all, if the bite results in you suffering serious harm, you could suffer financial loss too. That’s why we have this guide, which includes an example case study outlining how this type of claim may work.
Bitten by rat compensation
You can read about everything from compensation estimations to the advantages of working with a No Win No Fee solicitor. Before you go through the main sections, though, keep in mind that we’re always here to listen to you. We could advise on how personal injury solicitors could handle your case. So, just call 0800 408 7825, message us on our online contact form, or look in the right-hand corner below to use our live chat service.
Choose A Section
- A Guide To Calculating Compensation For Being Bitten By A Rat
- What Happens When You’re Bitten By A Rat?
- Financial Repercussions From Rat Bites
- What Leads To Rat Bites?
- Settlement Calculations From Experts
- Care Claims For Rat Bites
- Case Study: £6,000 Rat Bite Compensation
- Claim Estimates For Victims Are Free
- No Win No Fee Rat Bite Animal Injury Claims
- Find The Best Personal Injury Solicitors For Animal Injury Claims
- Chat About Your Animal Injury Claims Case
- More Guides For Animal Injury Claims
A Guide To Calculating Compensation For Being Bitten By A Rat
In this guide, we aim to help you understand how to make a compensation claim for being bitten by a rat. We’ll explain who has a duty of care to prevent you from enduring rat bites in certain situations and how, if they breach that duty, they could be held liable.
You’ll learn about the steps to take following a rat bite that you believe could’ve been prevented if a third party had not been negligent. You should also gain an understanding of how injuries can impact you financially, but how you could recover your financial loss through animal injury claims.
The personal injury claims time limit is usually three years. This dates from when you would have first suffered your injury or from when you became knowledgeable. It represents your window of opportunity to file for animal injury claims. If you try to claim after the time limit, even if you have clear evidence of a third party’s wrongdoing, you may not receive any compensation. However, there are exceptions to this rule. So, it pays to take action sooner rather than later, which is how Public Interest Lawyers could help you.
Please get in contact with us today to discuss your situation. We’re here for you 24/7, so you can call for free legal advice at any time. And, there’s no obligation for you to proceed with our services.
What Happens When You’re Bitten By A Rat?
It can be unpleasant enough to spot a rat running around. But what if you end up being bitten by it? It could happen when trying to remove the rat with a trap, or it could happen accidentally in, say, a public space. Whatever the case may be, the critical thing to recognise is that you may need to seek medical advice.
Not only might your finger be cut and show swelling, but teeth could even be left behind in your skin. The NHS recommends immediately cleaning the wound with warm water for several minutes. They also advise that, if the bite has broken the skin, you should seek medical attention.
A rat’s mouth contains a lot of bacteria. Therefore, if a bite breaks the skin, the cut could become infected. Many infections stemming from animal bites can be minor, but others such as tetanus could cause real harm.
After being bitten, the main priority, of course, would be ensuring you return to as full health as possible. But in the aftermath, if you realise your injury came from an avoidable accident, animal injury claims could be the next step. Contact us through our form if you want to discuss your rat-bite situation with our friendly team.
Financial Repercussions From Rat Bites
A rat bite’s main financial implication could be any medical treatment you required for a severe infection because it could involve taking time off work. So, potentially, you could miss out on income. If you didn’t receive sick pay during your absence, the issue could be more serious.
The good news is that any financial losses/costs could be recovered as part of your animal injury claims. And therefore, if you’re successful, you should recoup any money you’ve lost or paid out due to the injury. Call us on the number above if you want to have a chat about the financial ramifications.
What Leads To Rat Bites?
Making a negligence claim means you are proving that:
- A third party was liable for your wellbeing via a duty of care.
- Somehow a breach led to an incident taking place.
- You suffered an injury, such as a rat bite.
There are many places where you could be bitten by a rat, including public places, private premises and even at work. There is legislation aimed at protecting your health and safety in these areas. That includes protecting you from rat bites if a third party can reasonably prevent it.
Who Had A Duty Of Care For My Well Being
Employers are under an obligation through the law to take reasonable precautions to maintain the wellbeing of staff and avoid workplace accidents. But, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 could still be breached, leading to an accident at work. For example, an employee may be cleaning a boiler room, only to spot a rat and be bitten. If the employer had known about a rat infestation but not taken adequate precautions to stop it, they could be liable under the Act. And, an employee could make a multiple injury claim if the employee sustains multiple injuries in an accident.
Public liability (PL) means controllers of land, property and public places may be liable for suffering caused through their negligence. An avoidable incident that leads to someone’s injuries could render a controller liable under the terms of the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. Public spaces are covered under the Act such as parks, pavements and playgrounds. But also covered are restaurants, supermarkets and shops. If you were bitten in one of these private premises you may have a claim for compensation.
If you can solidly prove you were injured in a public place from an animal bite, you could claim from the date of knowledge of the bite.
Speak to us today about your scenario, and our knowledgeable team can assist you with free legal advice.
Settlement Calculations From Experts
After suffering a rat bite that breaks the skin, medical treatment could be a matter of urgency. If you choose to claim, you would be asked to take part in a medical assessment with an independent doctor. That’s because an independent assessment could confirm the true extent of the harm you suffered from the animal bite.
The findings of the medical assessment would influence the two categories of compensation you could potentially make animal injury claims for. General damages compensate you for psychological suffering and pain. And special damages compensate you for financial losses you’ve incurred because of your injuries. These can include medical payments, time off work without pay, and any further treatment you paid for. Providing your medical evaluation links your injuries to the bite and you have strong evidence, you could aim as high as is feasibly possible when claiming for compensation. Allow our advisors to advise you on these damages. You can freephone them on the number at the top of the screen.
Care Claims For Rat Bites
Care claims would potentially also be an example of special damages based on after-care that you receive. This could range from friends and family’s gracious care to hiring a nurse to look after you during recovery. Perhaps you pay for assistance with baby-sitting or dog-walking because you’re unable to yourself due to your injuries. Providing you can prove your financial loss through, for example, bills, receipts and tickets, you could claim these back.
Whatever your financial losses may be, they can begin to add up. And, they could form part of any animal injury claims that you file. What’s more, you could end up receiving higher compensation as a result. If you have any queries on your particular financial losses, make sure to speak to our helpful team regarding care claims.
Case Study: £6,000 Rat Bite Compensation
Mrs Ward, 30, worked in a warehouse for a supermarket. She was relatively new to the job, but so far she had adapted reasonably well. That being said, she wasn’t comfortable with the safety conditions of the environment. She’d spotted rat droppings several times, but there seemed to be only a couple of dusty, broken traps. This only became an issue when it was too late.
One night at work, Mrs Ward was asked to clear one of the larger stockrooms. While doing so, she came across a very dusty shelf holding several boxes. Mrs Ward was unable to see when moving them due to the room’s darkness. All of a sudden, she shrieked as she felt a sharp pain in her index finger. Mrs Ward pulled her hand away and a rat scurried off. A colleague rushed over to see what the problem was and another colleague worked on locating the creature.
In the meantime, the main priority was Mrs Ward’s health. She was assisted by the team’s first aid representative, who doused her finger and hand under cold water. Mrs Ward’s finger was bandaged up. Three days later, she had a searing headache and broke out in a rash. She was given the rest of the week off while she recovered, but her symptoms only got worse. She was vomiting and had a fever.
During the home visit from her doctor, Mrs Ward told him about her symptoms and the rat bite. She was sent straight to the hospital. After a blood test, was informed that she had contracted an infection called Streptobacillary, which could become very serious.
Making Animal Injury Claims
Thankfully, Mrs Ward recovered. Nevertheless, she had missed a month of work due to the infection which could have been very serious. Mrs Ward was angry at her employers for not taking the appropriate steps to deal with their rat problem. Had they done so, she might have avoided being hurt by a bite from a rat. It was clear they had had a problem with rats for a long time but no one had done anything much about it.
Mrs Ward spoke to a personal injury solicitor, who advised that she had grounds to file an animal injury claim against her employers. So she did and received £6,000 out of court as a result. This settlement comprised £4,461 for general damages concerning her pain and suffering, and £1,539 for additional special damages.
| Type Of Special Damages | Includes: | How Much? |
|---|---|---|
| Lost Earnings | Costs of being unable to work in the retail warehouse for 1 month. | £1,200 |
| Medical Costs | Costs of pharmacy medication and bandages (before she was prescribed antibiotics) | £39 |
| Travel Costs | Travel to and from appointments | £30 |
| Care costs | Partner taking time to look after her | £270 |
This scenario involving Mrs Ward is not based on an actual case. It is intended to explain the personal injury claims process, valuations and accident scenarios.
Claim Estimates For Victims Are Free
Let’s now discuss how you could receive an estimate. If you work with Public Interest Lawyers, we would sidestep online personal injury claims calculators and focus directly on you and your specific circumstances. A rat bite could change your life in a way that it wouldn’t for other victims.
By using your evidence, our calculation for your animal injury claims payout could be closer to what you would realistically expect. That’s because it would factor in anything unique to your situation and your subsequent suffering. Talk to us on the 24/7 live chat if you have any queries or if you’d like a free estimate of what you could claim.
No Win No Fee Rat Bite Animal Injury Claims
No Win No Fee agreements are intended to ease a claimant’s financial strain. That’s because, as a claimant, you would only pay your personal injury solicitor’s legal costs at the end of the case, and only if it wins. The personal injury solicitors success fee even has a cap to ensure you don’t lose out significantly. And, if your case loses, you won’t pay your solicitor’s fees.
This means that you only pay what you need to during and after the claims process. And that could enable you to fund any animal injury claims. Call us today if you want to know anything else about No Win No Fee agreements.
Find The Best Personal Injury Solicitors For Animal Injury Claims
A good personal injury solicitor should demonstrate to you successful cases they’ve previously made for personal injury claims. They should also have positive client feedback about how they handled the legal process as a whole. Consider if your prospective solicitor has industry-standard qualifications, is easy to contact, and is experienced in dealing with claims, potentially even those regarding rat bites. These and similar elements could define the most suitable legal representation for your case. And since our panel of personal injury solicitors provides all of these plus many years of expertise, they could be suited to you. Find out even more by using the live chat function just below.
Chat About Your Animal Injury Claims Case
To speak to our specialists about your personal injury claims options, you can:
- Telephone our team on 0800 408 7825.
- Use the contact form to write out your message.
- Speak to someone instantly through our live chat.
We’re available all day, every day to help you out, and you’re not required to pursue your claim after talking with us.
More Guides On Animal Injury Claims
Make sure to use the below links if you want more guidance before you make an animal injury claim.
The Public Interest Lawyers website details how we could handle your case.
We also discuss any incidents of you being hurt at a shop.
And we detail how to avoid situations that could result in public liability claims due to injuries.
The NHS, meanwhile, explores the topic of animal bites on its website.
They also explain how to treat tetanus should you suffer from it.
And they provide similar guidance with regards to leptospirosis (Weil’s disease), an infection that can be spread via the urine of rats.
Article by AE
Publisher UI.
Thank you for reading our guide to animal injury claims.