Can a person file for bankruptcy when a lawsuit is pending against them?

Question

On july 31st, my friends daughter was attacked by her neighbors two dogs. a rott wiler and a german/pit mix. she was severely injured. she had to get stitches on her face and clamps in her head. she also had to have her eye lid stitched back together. to make matters worse, she has not gotten a visit, a call, or even a card from the neighbor to see how her daughter is doing, or to apologize for what happened. they are actually angry with her for having the dogs taken away from them. She is suing them now, and she wants to go about the situation the right way.

Answer 1

Yes, they can file and that is a very common way to get rid of lawsuits.

It won't matter if you sue them now or sue them later.  Since the claim arose on July 31st, it can be wiped out in bankruptcy at any time after that.

Answer 2

She needs to call a local lawyer and get his or her advise.. not come on here and get one.

With that out of the way; I believe you can not file bankruptcy if you have a lawsuit against you.  

Answer 3

Yes, they can, in which case any judgment becomes just another unsecured debt.

However, if bankruptcy occurs, he loses all (or substantially all) of his assets, so it's really not a practical way to avoid the debt.

Step one should be having those dogs put down, since they are obviously a menace.

Answer 4

In most states bankruptcy is a simple defense to a lawsuit.  Yes; people do it all the time if the circumstances warrant.  What you want to do as a "creditor" is try and find out if they are hiding anything of significant value from the bankruptcy court - people do that all the time - they give things to familly members to hold for instance.