Dog Bites and Personal Injury Law

We hear about cases of dog bites or dog attacks on the news or by word of mouth, but few know the legal process involved if they were to become victim to a dog bite.  There are a few things that everyone should know in the case that they are a victim of a dog bite.  If you’ve a dog bite, it’s important to first seek medical attention, because if your dog bite goes untreated, you will be susceptible to infection, among other things.  After taking care of the dog bite itself, contacting a lawyer regarding the dog bite incident may be wise if you are considering filing a legal claim to seek damages.  Upon consulting a lawyer for your dog bite claim, be sure to have contact information for the dog’s owner before pursuing a dog bite claim.

To become more familiar with a dog bite victim’s rights, it is important to be familiar with dog owner liability, as that will be essential to a dog bite personal injury case.  Here is some additional information from HugPug.com that will introduce to you the workings of dog bite personal injury cases.

Dog Owner Liability

In most instances, dog owners are financially liable for any personal injury or property damage their pets cause. Three kinds of laws impose liability on owners:

• A dog-bite statute. Many states have laws that make a dog owner legally liable for any injury or property damage the dog causes. Although commonly called “dog-bite statutes,“ most of these laws cover all kinds of dog-inflicted injuries, not just bites. The dog owner is automatically liable if the statute applies.
  Example. Barbara lives in Minneapolis with her spaniel-mix dog, Ray, who has always been gentle with people. But one day, while on a leash, Ray unexpectedly bites a child in a park. Barbara wasn’t being careless, but under her state’s law, she’s financially liable because her dog, without provocation, bit someone who was “acting peaceably” in a place he had a right to be.
• The one-bite rule. This misleadingly named rule makes an owner legally responsible for an injury caused by a dog if the owner knew the dog was likely to cause that type of injury – for example, that the dog would bite. The victim must prove the owner knew the dog was dangerous.
  Example. A New Jersey man was scratched by a dog. He sued and won, based on the one-bite theory, because he proved that the dog’s owner knew of the dog’s tendency to jump up and scratch people.³
• Negligence laws. If the injury occurred because the dog owner was unreasonably careless (negligent) in controlling the dog, the owner is liable.
  Example. Lucy puts her new dog, Zippy, in the back yard but forgets to close the gate. The dog runs out into her front yard and bites the mail carrier. Lucy didn’t know the dog would bite. But because her negligence – leaving the gate open – caused the injury, she is liable.

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Dog-Bite Statutes

More than half the states have statutes that make dog owners liable if their dogs cause injury. Although commonly called dog-bite statutes, many of these laws cover all kinds of dog-inflicted injuries, not just bites. They are called “strict liability” statutes because they impose liability without fault – that is, an injured person does not have to prove that the dog owner did anything wrong. (The only exception is Hawaii, where an injured person must still prove the dog’s owner was unreasonably careless.)

The theory behind these laws is that anyone who has a dog should be responsible for any damage it causes, period. It doesn’t matter that the owner was careful with the dog, or didn’t know it would hurt anyone, or conscientiously tried to keep it from injuring anyone.

For example, the Minnesota dog-bite statute says:

If a dog, without provocation, attacks or injures any person who is acting peaceably in any place where the person may lawfully be, the owner of the dog is liable in damages to the person so attacked or injured to the full amount of the injury sustained.

The victim doesn’t have to show that the dog owner did anything wrong. To win a lawsuit under this statute, an injured person must, however, prove four things:

1. The injured person was attacked or injured by a dog. This doesn’t necessarily require physical contact; if a dog runs at and frightens someone, causing him to injure himself, the statute still applies.⁴
2. The person being sued (the defendant) is the owner of the dog.
3. The victim didn’t provoke the dog to bite.
4. The victim was acting peaceably somewhere he or she had the right to be.

The Common Law “One-Bite” Rule

Under the common law rule, a dog’s owner or keeper is liable for injuries the dog causes only if the owner knew or had reason to know that the dog was likely to cause that kind of injury. So if your dog tries to bite someone, from that moment on you’re on notice that the dog is dangerous, and you will be liable if the dog later bites someone.

The common law rule comes into play only if the state has no dog-bite statute or if the statute doesn’t apply – for example, if the statute covers only bites, and the dog caused the injury by knocking the person down.

A dog owner may be able to escape liability by proving that the injured person provoked the injury, or voluntarily and knowingly risked being injured by the dog.

The logic of this legal doctrine is straightforward, if not unquestionable. This rule allows a person who owns a dog to assume, until there is some concrete indication to the contrary, that the dog isn’t dangerous. But an owner who knows a dog poses a particular kind of risk to people must take action to prevent the foreseeable injury – or be prepared to pay for it.

The common law rule is often called the “one-bite” rule, which is a bit of a misnomer. It implies that every dog gets one “free” bite (free for its owner), and from then on the owner is on notice that the dog is dangerous. It’s true that if a dog bites someone, its owner is definitely on notice that the dog is dangerous; but less serious behavior is also enough, legally, to give the owner the knowledge the law looks for. For example, if a dog growls or snaps at people, the owner knows (or should know) that the dog may cause injury. If the dog does hurt someone, the owner will be liable, even for the first bite.

The test for liability is the same no matter how the injury was caused: Did the owner know of the dog’s dangerous tendency? For example, if a dog jumps up and knocks someone down, the question is: Did the owner know of the dog’s tendency to knock people down? If so, he’s liable for it.

If the owner denies responsibility and the dispute ends up in court (most don’t), the judge or jury will have to decide whether or not the owner should have known the dog was likely to hurt someone.

Aside from the general concept of dog bite owner liability, it’s also important to note the exemption of trained dogs.  While this varies from state to state, it’s a general rule that dogs trained for military or police uses are exempt from liability for a dog bite if the incident occurs while the dog is working.  This exemption can limit one’s ability to seek damages for a dog bite because for a trained dog to bite, force must have been used.

Of course your best option is to avoid dog bite accidents altogether — that is not to say you should try to avoid dogs entirely, since most dogs are friendly and peaceable.  However, avoiding contact with dogs that are known to be aggressive can help you prevent dog bite incidents.  In doing this you can save yourself the pain and trouble of dealing with a dog bite case.  If you do fall victim to a dog bite, we at Bander, Bander & Alves would be more than happy to help you navigate through the complexities of this area of personal injury, and we will do our absolute best to represent you if you choose to pursue a dog bite claim.