Home›Cases We Fund›Dog Bite
A dog bite starts billing you right away. The emergency room, the rabies shots, the wound care, the first visit with a plastic surgeon. Your claim runs on a much slower clock, because your attorney usually cannot value a scar until it stops changing, and the owner's insurer is happy to let that clock run. If you are approved, Hello World Funding can put cash in your hands now, while the case is still being built.
Start with what this is not. It is not a loan. Nobody pulls your credit, nobody asks for a payment next month, and nothing goes to collections. We are paid out of your recovery or not at all. That is the non-recourse part, and it matters in bite cases: if a breed exclusion or a provocation defense sinks the claim, the loss is ours, not yours. You do need an attorney handling the case on contingency.
No credit check. No monthly payments. No cost to apply. If your Dog Bite case does not recover, you owe us nothing and you keep what we advanced. You must have an attorney handling the claim on contingency.
Dog bite money rarely comes out of a person's pocket. It usually comes from a homeowners or renters liability policy, so the first question is whether that policy covers this dog. A breed exclusion, an animal exclusion added after an earlier bite, a renter with no policy, or a bite inside your own household can leave the claim with nothing behind it. That varies by state, and your lawyer is the one to ask.
There is also a second file that has nothing to do with your lawyer. Animal control usually opens its own case, the dog is often held for observation, and some cities hold a hearing on whether it gets labeled dangerous. Earlier complaints about that dog live in those records, and they are often the strongest proof you have. Pulling them can take weeks of requests, and nobody on the insurer's side is helping.
Then there is the scar itself. Many surgeons prefer to wait until a scar has finished changing before they will plan a revision, which can push the medical picture out a year or more, though your own doctor decides the timing. Health plans often call that revision cosmetic and refuse it, so you are quoted a price for the one surgery your case is supposed to pay for. Funding is built to cover that stretch, so you are not stuck choosing between healing now and settling right.
For California claims, start with the state overview, then where a Los Angeles case gets filed.
There are no receipts to submit and no restrictions on how you spend it, other than this: funding is for your living expenses, not for paying the costs of the litigation itself.
Never your credit, your income or your job history. Only the claim.
We look for the homeowners, renters or landlord policy behind the dog, and for anything that knocks it out: a breed exclusion, an animal exclusion added after a prior bite, or a household exclusion. Your attorney's read on available limits matters here.
Whether the dog had bitten or menaced anyone before can change the whole case, and states treat that history differently. We read the animal control report, any prior complaints, and whatever the insurer is claiming about provocation. How that plays out depends on the jurisdiction, so ask your attorney.
Location does a lot of work in these cases. A bite on the face, hand or forearm reads differently than one under a shirt. We look at early photos, wound care notes, any nerve or tendon damage, infection, and the surgeon's plan for later work.
Adult and child claims fund very differently. A settlement for a minor usually needs court approval and the money is often held until adulthood, which limits what can be advanced. Ask your attorney how minors' settlements work where you live. We ask up front.
Tell us who you are, what happened and who represents you. No credit check, no bank statements, no employment history — the case is the application.
2 minutesWe request the case file from your law firm and handle the paperwork with their staff. Your attorney's involvement is a signature and a few documents — not hours of work.
Same dayOur underwriters look at liability, injuries, treatment and available insurance coverage to decide what your claim can support. Your credit score and income never enter into it.
24 hours (typical)You review a plain-English agreement that states exactly what you will owe at settlement. Sign it and funds go out the same day by direct deposit, wire, or in-person pickup.
Same dayYour attorney files against the owner, but the money almost always comes from a liability policy they already pay for every month. Most people sit easier with it once someone explains that part.
One warning: if you live in the same house as the owner, many policies exclude claims between household members, and that can end the claim. Ask your attorney about the policy before you count on it.
Not necessarily, but it is a real problem and we will not pretend otherwise. Carriers handle breeds inconsistently, and some exclude a dog only after it has already bitten someone.
Your attorney may find another route: a landlord's policy, an umbrella policy, a second household policy, or a business policy if the bite happened at a groomer or daycare. Until someone confirms a source of payment, most funders including us cannot move.
Sometimes, and often not. A child's settlement usually has to be approved by a court, and the money is frequently held for the child until adulthood, so there may be nothing available to advance against. Your attorney can walk you through what a judge in your county will expect.
Call anyway. If a minor's case cannot be funded where you are, we will say so plainly and quickly.
It can. Route drivers, meter readers, home health aides and mail carriers get bitten on the job all the time. You may have a workers' comp claim and a separate claim against the dog owner, and your employer's carrier may have a right to be repaid out of your recovery. Repayment rules like that differ from state to state, so raise it with your attorney early.
We still look at these. We just need to know about the comp side up front.
No. Waiting is usually the whole problem. Many surgeons prefer to let a scar mature before planning a revision, and your attorney will not want to settle before that plan exists. Surgeons differ on this, and yours will tell you what applies to you. Those months are hard on a household, and that is when most people call us.
What matters to us is that treatment is underway and documented. Gaps in care make any claim harder to read. You also need an attorney working the bite case on contingency, because we ask their office for the file: the animal control report, bite photos, medical records, and their read on coverage. A decision typically comes about a day after that arrives, and if you are approved and you sign, funding usually goes out the same day. Those are typical timelines, not promises. We fund throughout the US, subject to state law and availability.
Usually there is. Your claim tends to ride on the owner's liability coverage and the paper trail, not on the dog itself. The animal control file, the observation notes and any earlier complaints stay in the record after the dog is gone.
Photograph your wound now if you have not already, and again at each stage of healing. Early bite photos carry a lot of weight, and they are the one piece nobody can recreate later.
Underwriting looks at the same things across every case type. If yours is not listed anywhere on this site, call or text and ask.
Apply in about two minutes. We contact your attorney, review the case, and if you're approved you can have funds the same day. No credit check, no monthly payments, and if you lose, you owe us nothing.