David J. Cowhey, the New Jersey Dog Bite Lawyer, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended the Cardinal Dougherty High School, where he was a four-year member of the two-time City Championship soccer team. He graduated as class valedictorian and scholar-athlete.
He attended Haverford College, where he was a four-year starter on the varsity soccer team and earned all-league honors and a place on two NCAA Tournament teams. He graduated with departmental honors in history. In 1982, he graduated with honors from Rutgers School of Law and went to work for a large Philadelphia law firm.
After several years in Philadelphia, he relocated his family to New Jersey and began his career representing only accident victims. He was certified and recertified as a Civil Trial Attorney – an honor bestowed to less than 3% of New Jersey attorneys. He enjoys a 4.9/5.0 Martindale-Hubbell rating. He has tried over 150 jury trials to conclusion and has won tens of millions of dollars for his clients.
Mr. Cowhey currently resides at the New Jersey Shore with Victoria, his wife of over 35 years. They have two grown sons, David and Matthew. David currently works with his father as a legal assistant. His practice is 100% devoted to representing victims of dog bites. He maintains four offices throughout New Jersey and has represented dog bite victims in every county of the state.
In his free time, Mr. Cowhey is an avid inshore and offshore game fisherman, and enjoys gardening, traveling and spending time with his family.
In a typical dog bite case, we set a date 6 months from the date of the bite to issue a demand letter to the dog owner’s insurance company, if the case is ready (if we have all the necessary information and documentation). About 75% of our cases settle at that time. If a Complaint has to be filed, the litigation process usually takes about a year.
If you do not carry any health insurance, we will get the dog owner’s insurance company to pay for your bills. If you are insured, we will check with your insurance company to see if they will assert a lien against your potential recovery in your claim. If so, we get the dog owner’s insurance company to pay it. We will also assist you in getting any co-payments or deductibles paid.
We first must review the facts of your case, as it is difficult to estimate the amount of compensation you should receive without doing so. There are multiple factors that go into determining what you are owed, and it takes an attorney decades of experience to correctly identify your short-term and long-term losses. Mr. Cowhey will fight to recover all possible damages for you, including medical expenses, property damage, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
The first thing we do is interview you to get as much information and facts as we can about your case. We then do a letter of representation to the dog owner, asking them to give it to their homeowner’s or renter’s insurance carrier. Once we establish contact with the insurance company, we give them the relevant information on your case, e.g. photos, police reports, medical records, doctor’s reports, etc. After 6 months pass from the original date of the dog bite, we send a demand letter to the insurance company and attempt to settle the case. If we cannot, we file a Complaint.
No. We work on a completely contingent basis. We pay all expenses for the prosecution of your claim. At the end of the case, we subtract the costs from the gross recovery. The fee is one-third of the net recovery (25% in cases where the claimant is a minor). If you don’t recover, either by settlement or jury trial, you owe us nothing.