Dog Bites

California is a strict liability state. The dog does not get a free bite.

Civil Code § 3342(a):

"The owner of any dog is liable for the damages suffered by any person who is bitten by the dog while in a public place or lawfully in a private place …"

and liability attaches

"regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner's knowledge of such viciousness."

Read that second clause. The "one-bite rule" — the idea that an owner is only liable once the dog has a history — is not California law. A dog with a perfect record for ten years produces the same liability on the first bite.

What the statute requires, and what it does not

It requires two things. A bite, and that you were in a public place or lawfully in a private place. Lawfully includes an invited guest, a person on business, and anyone performing a duty imposed by law or by a postal or delivery obligation.

It does not require proof that the owner was careless, proof that the dog had bitten before, or proof that the owner knew the dog was dangerous.

The exceptions are narrow and specific. Subdivisions (b) through (d) exempt a governmental agency using a dog in military or police work in defined circumstances — but the exemption does not apply where the bitten person was not a participant in the activity that prompted the dog's use, and the agency must have adopted a written policy governing that use. Those two conditions are litigated, and they are frequently not met.

Strict liability covers the bite. Other theories cover the rest.

§ 3342 is about being bitten. A great deal of dog-related injury is not a bite:

• A dog that knocks a person down — a fracture case, and a common one for older adults and cyclists
• A dog that runs into the road and causes a collision
• A dog that chases a cyclist or a runner into traffic

Those are ordinary negligence claims under Civil Code § 1714, and where the animal was on someone's property, premises liability under Rowland v. Christian (1968) 69 Cal.2d 108.

A landlord can be a defendant too, where they knew of a dangerous animal on the premises and had the ability to do something about it.

The people this happens to at work

Postal and package delivery, food delivery, home health, in-home supportive services, utility meter reading, cable and internet installation, gardening and landscaping, and animal control — dog encounters are an occupational hazard in every one of them.

Which means two claims, not one. Labor Code § 3852(a) keeps the compensation claim against the employer and the civil claim against the dog's owner running side by side. Under Labor Code § 3856(b) the fees and litigation costs come out of a judgment before the employer's lien, in an amount fixed by the court under § 3856(d).

Homeowner's insurance is usually the source of recovery, and it is usually available even where the dog's owner has no other assets. How both claims run together.

What to do this week

Get medical care and say it was a dog bite. Puncture wounds are infection cases as much as trauma cases, and the record needs to say what happened.

Photograph the wounds over several days, not once. Scarring evolves, and the photographs taken in week one are the ones that matter at the end.

Report it to animal control. That creates an official record of the dog, the owner, and the address — and it is often the only way to establish ownership later.

Identify the owner and the property. Owner, address, and whether they rent or own. All three matter.

Keep the clothing, unwashed.

And if you were working, open the workers' compensation claim as well. The claim process.

Common questions