Can the owner be held liable criminally or in civil court? A friend asked me so I thought I’d ask all of you.
My bitter, off the cuff answer would be “not a damn thing, usually.” Most dog owners that have a dog that just attacked somebody all of a sudden adopt the “but I don’t own a dog” routine. Convenient, no?
But yes, sometimes you can get them in a civil case. Maybe the postman gets attacked by a Doberman and there is no sign warning them that there’s a dog in the yard out for blood. That would probably be considered negligence and the owner’s homeowner’s insurance company would probably be getting a letter.
Criminally it seems to be much harder but apparently can be done sometimes.
Hit submit too soon.
IANAL.
Quite superfluous, I can assure you, Abbie. I’ve dealt with many lawyers and you don’t resemble one in the least!
Thanks, roger. Now are you planning on adding anything constructive to the thread or can we just expect more drive-by digs?
In some states there is a “one free bite” rule, where the owner is not liable for the first time their dog bites someone. After that, the dog is presumed to be dangerous and the owner is liable. Other states take a strict liability approach. There are also extenuating conditions, such as whether someone was harassing the dog or trespassing on private property.
Not a dig, I assure you, Abbie. I meant that you didn’t write in a stilted legal style.
I have a friend whose dog bit someone and is now confined to “house arrest” (the dog, not the friend) forever. My friend was required by the courts to erect a certain type of fence (for when the dog goes out to do his business), and if the dog gets caught outside of her home or fenced yard again (whether or not he bites anyone), my friend will go to jail. Only for a night, I think, but her other option was to have the dog put down.
This may have been an extreme case (as far as I know, it was the dog’s first offense, and the dog is not even one of those dogs that some people consider “dangerous and scary” (i.e., pit bulls, rottweilers, etc.)–it’s an American Eskimo ).
That’s my only (vicarious) experience with the issue, though, so take it for what it’s worth . . .
There really isn’t a “one free bite” rule anywhere. What it means is that the owner can claim that the dog had never bit anyone in the past, so he had no idea that there was a possibility of danger. This isn’t an absolute defense, but it can be an effective one.
However, if the bitten person can show that the dog was acting aggressively and behaved in a manner that a reasonable person would have known a bite might occur, the owner can lose the suit because he didn’t try to prevent the bite.
Wow. :eek:
Forgive me for my bitchy comeback. 
Assuming the “one-bite rule” did exist, the dog owner would be well advised to make sure that first bite went to the right person. It’d be a shame to waste the one freebite on one’s own sainted grandmother when he could use it on that annoying kid next door instead! 
Our yellow lab Baxter bit my dad. Bax wasn’t being aggressive necessarily. Dad was feeding him table scraps, and Bax sort of took a chunk of Dad’s finger along with. Dad needed stitches, so off to the emergency room. When he told the doctor what had happened the doctor reported it. Baxter was quarantined for two weeks. I would guess since they quarantined Bax for something little like that, they would definitely play hardball had he actually been agressive.
Baxter’s actually a really sweetie and doesn’t seem to mind that we refer to him now as the ex-con. Plus lots more careful when feeding table scraps…
Ok, here comes the disclaimer–after which I will answer the question according to general legal principles that may or may not apply in your jurisdiction–by posting to this thread, I am not offering you or anyone else legal advice. There may be specific laws or caselaw in your jurisdiction that I don’t know about. If your question is motivated by anything other than idle curiosity, you should contact a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction, or consider contacting a local law library that can help you find legal resources that address your question. I’m not your lawyer. You are not my client.
In answer to the OP, yes, under the right circumstances, a dog owner can be criminally or civily liable if the dog bites someone. Owning a dog is like owning anything else that is potentially dangerous, if you don’t exercise proper care, and someone gets hurt, you can be civilly or criminally liable.
There is a lot of misunderstanding about the ancient “one bite rule” so let me clarify. The one bite rule does NOT mean that your dog is allowed to bite somebody once without penalty. It’s just that after your dog has bitten someone, you are strictly liable if it bites someone again. Your jurisdiction may or may not have the one bite rule. I don’t know. But here is an explanation of the one bite rule that prevailed at common law (actually I believe it goes back to Roman Law).
Let me illustrate. Say you are walking your dog, Rover. You pass somebody on the street and Rover bites him. He sues. In order to win, he has to show that you were negligent. You can defend the suit by showing that you were reasonably prudent: you kept your dog on a leash, you warned the guy to stay away, whatever. You might win, you might not, but the question will be whether you were negligent, that is, whether you exercised ordinary care.
BUT, from now on, you are ON NOTICE that your dog is dangerous. The next time your dog bites somebody, you can’t defend yourself by saying you had him on a leash, etc. Instead you will be held “strictly liable.” If the vicitim can prove that your dog bit him, then he wins, it doesn’t matter how careful you were.
Now, it’s more complicated than that, because of course if you can prove, for example, that the victim was attacking you or attacking the dog, then that is a different story, because you will have a defense. There are other defenses too. But the main point is, you can no longer escape liability by showing that you were careful. THAT is the one bite rule. After the first bite, you are considered on notice, and you proceed at your own risk.
As to criminal liability, of course a dog can be used as a murder weapon just as a gun or a candlestick can. If I sick my pack of wild dogs on you with the intent to do you harm, then I may face criminal penalties the same way I would if I sick a pack of bullets on you.
And, of course I can face criminal penalties even if I don’t deliberately try to harm you. If I am stupidly reckless and I set a fire that kills you, I may face manslaughter charges. If I am stupidly reckless and I let my vicious huge dog attack and kill you, I will likely face manslaughter charges for that too. (See the story linked by Abbie Carmichael)
Do you have the right to defend yourself against the dog?
I was nipped a few years ago when taking a walk. The dog had no collar and looked to be a stray so we just decided not to go near that block again.
Would I have been in criminal trouble had I decided to whack him over the head a few times if he’d gone any further with his jaws?
AFAIK, you have the right to use reasonable force to defend yourself against any attacker, human or animal. What this means is that you can’t typically whip out your concealed-carry and blow Bowser’s brains out for nipping at your heels, because that would be far more force than necessary to stop the attack. You could, however, give him a boot in the butt or smack him with the end of a leash or something. YMMV depending on local laws.
My dog tasted my roofer. She now salivates at any contractor coming to the door, so I take extra precautions and crate her whenever strangers enter the house. Lucky for her, the roofer was cool and never reported her. (“She was just protecting you!” he said.) Several months later he was found dead (of a gunshot wound – unrelated to my dog), so Tipzilla is now in the clear as far as ever being labeled a dangerous dog. Nevertheless, I don’t trust her not to decide to taste other contractors, so I keep her at least one room away from them and never, ever, invite strangers into the house. I walk out on the porch to meet them, but let nobody in unless I have physical control of her.
My friend’s dog bit a cop once. She had her dog in the car with her and got pulled over. When the cop leaned in to talk with her, the dog got protective and took a chunk out of the cop! :eek: I believe there was no avoiding quarantine and now this beautiful 14-year-old black lab is labeled “dangerous.”
We have both learned our lessons: no matter how sweet and fluffy your baby is, you just never know what will make a dog nip or what will make a playful nip turn into a protective bite or whatever.