neighbor suing over dog scratch
California Jul 23, 2026
location: los angeles, california my neighbor is suing our family for a scratch they received from our dog. incident happened in the beginning of this month where our family dog scratched my neighbors leg (ended up scratching their varicose vein) and it ended up bleeding, we insisted and personally drove neighbor to the nearest hospital (also where we routinely go and have insurance) where they confirmed it was just a minor scratch, hospital didn’t do anything more than clean the area and apply a bandaid. two days ago we received a call from our landlord saying they got a complaint about our dogs and that we’d have to get rid of them. today we received a letter from a firm saying our neighbor is being represented in connection of said accident, and they requested written disclosure of our insured policy limits… for context we’ve had our dog for 8yrs (soon to be 9 years) and never had any incident with anyone whatsoever. our dog didn’t bite the neighbor and doesn’t ever bite. dog just ran up to neighbor, scratched while jumping up and unfortunately since the dogs nails haven’t been trimmed recently and neighbor has bad varicose veins they did cause a scratch enough to bleed. currently we’re waiting to see if we receive any other letter specifying what our neighbor said exactly, in addition to what they’re asking for (in terms of payment?), should my family get a lawyer to represent us in this? if so what kind of lawyer should we look for? we’ve never been involved in such a thing and we’re not even sure what insurance information they’re requesting (we don’t have anything other than car insurance and medical insurance provided through work) any information or advice helps, but i’m specifically looking for what type of lawyer to contact and also what insurance to provide?
