Dog Bite Demand Letter - Kentucky

KENTUCKY DOG-BITE / ANIMAL-ATTACK SETTLEMENT DEMAND

Date: [__/__/____]

Via: ☐ Certified mail ☐ First-class mail ☐ Email ☐ Other: [____________]

To: [OWNER / KEEPER / LANDLORD / INSURER / OTHER RECIPIENT]

Address / Email: [________________________________]

From: [LAW FIRM / CLAIMANT]

Claimant: [________________________________]

Incident date and time: [__/__/____] at [____]

Incident location: [________________________________], Kentucky

Animal and owner/keeper: [________________________________]

Claim / policy number: [________________________________]

1. Purpose and Attorney Controls

This letter presents documented facts, injuries, losses, and a settlement proposal concerning the incident identified above. It does not assume that a person or entity is legally responsible.

Before sending, Kentucky counsel must identify and verify from current official sources:

Delete any demand or remedy not supported by the completed authority record and the evidence.

2. Limitations Control

KRS § 413.140(1) places its listed actions in a one-year-after-accrual category. Paragraph (1)(a) covers an action for injury to the person of the plaintiff or another person in the relationships it lists. Counsel must establish the correct claim and claimant category, determine accrual from controlling authority, and screen every tolling, notice, party, or more specific provision before calculating the deadline.

A settlement-response date in this letter does not toll, extend, or replace any filing or notice deadline.

3. Incident Facts

On [__/__/____] at approximately [____], Claimant was [ACTIVITY] at [LOCATION]. The animal [FACTUAL DESCRIPTION OF CONTACT / ATTACK].

Describe only facts supported by a witness, record, photograph, video, admission, or other identified evidence:

[____________________________________________________________]

[____________________________________________________________]

Claimant's conduct immediately before the incident:

[____________________________________________________________]

How the incident ended:

[____________________________________________________________]

Emergency response / animal-control response:

[____________________________________________________________]

4. Responsibility Evidence

A. Animal and Responsible-Person Record

Do not state that a prior incident, sign, breed, complaint, designation, ordinance, or property relationship proves an element unless current controlling Kentucky authority supports that conclusion.

B. Claimant-Conduct Record

☐ Lawful location and purpose documented
☐ Interaction with animal documented
☐ Any warning and Claimant's response documented
☐ Any alleged provocation, trespass, assumption of risk, or fault addressed
☐ Child, disability, worker, or other status recorded if legally relevant
☐ Conflicting witness accounts identified

Narrative:

[____________________________________________________________]

C. Liability Position

Based on the facts and the current authority recorded in Section 1, Claimant contends that [RECIPIENT] is responsible because:

[____________________________________________________________]

[____________________________________________________________]

Claim / theory and elements applied to evidence:

[____________________________________________________________]

5. Preservation Request

Please preserve materials within your possession, custody, or control that may bear on the incident, including:

• ☐ Photographs, video, doorbell, security, or body-camera footage
• ☐ Animal-control, police, fire, EMS, and dispatch records
• ☐ Veterinary, vaccination, licensing, training, and behavior records
• ☐ Prior complaints, warnings, reports, citations, or proceedings
• ☐ Communications concerning the animal or incident
• ☐ Lease, pet addendum, property-management, and maintenance records
• ☐ Fence, gate, restraint, sign, and repair records
• ☐ Applicable insurance policies, claim correspondence, and recorded statements
• ☐ Witness names and contact information
• ☐ Other: [________________________________]

This is a preservation request. It does not assert an independent duty, prohibit lawful animal-control or medical action, or state a sanction or inference. Counsel must separately determine any duty, scope, control, proportionality, notice, and remedy under current law.

6. Injuries and Treatment

Injuries and objective findings:

[____________________________________________________________]

Course of treatment and present condition:

[____________________________________________________________]

Future care supported by provider opinion and cost evidence:

[____________________________________________________________]

Scarring, impairment, or other claimed effects:

[____________________________________________________________]

7. Income and Other Claimed Losses

Any non-economic, punitive, fee, interest, future-loss, collateral-source, or other category must be supported by current claim-specific authority and evidence before inclusion.

8. Settlement Proposal

After applying the supported liability theory, defenses, insurance terms, recoverable categories, liens, and evidence, Claimant offers to resolve [DEFINED CLAIMS] for:

$[________________]

Material proposed terms:

• Released persons and claims: [________________________________]
• Liens / reimbursement interests: [________________________________]
• Confidentiality or non-disparagement, if any: [________________________________]
• Payment timing and method: [________________________________]
• Dismissal / documentation: [________________________________]
• Other: [________________________________]

This offer remains open until [DATE AND TIME], unless withdrawn earlier in writing. This is a proposed negotiation period, not a statutory deadline and not an agreement to extend any limitation, notice, filing, or policy deadline.

Please respond to [CONTACT] at [EMAIL / ADDRESS]. If you dispute responsibility or valuation, identify the factual and legal basis and provide the documents on which you rely.

9. Enclosures

• ☐ Incident / animal-control / police report
• ☐ Photographs or video index
• ☐ Witness statements
• ☐ Medical records and itemized bills
• ☐ Wage-loss verification
• ☐ Prior-incident or notice evidence
• ☐ Current authority record from Section 1
• ☐ Other: [________________________________]

Sensitive information has been redacted or transmitted through [SECURE METHOD].

[ATTORNEY / CLAIMANT NAME]
[Title / Kentucky Bar No., if applicable]
[Firm]
[Address]
[Telephone]
[Email]

Source Checked for This Template

• KRS § 413.140(1)(a): https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=58050

This template requires review and customization by a Kentucky-licensed attorney before use.