Dog Bite Attorneys
OUR CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA DOG BITE ATTORNEYS OFFER HELPFUL GUIDANCE
Understanding California Dog Bite Claims
Anyone can be bitten by a dog. Most victims know the animal, and many are children bitten in a neighbour’s yard or a friend’s home. That is part of what makes these cases difficult: the person you may need to claim against is often someone you know.
California law is unusually protective of victims here. A dog owner is liable for the first bite, whether or not the animal had ever shown aggression. Our attorneys handle these claims across California and from our North Las Vegas office, and in almost every case the money comes from an insurance policy rather than from the owner personally.
Common Causes of Dog Attacks
Dog attacks rarely come out of nowhere. The circumstances that produce them repeat:
An unrestrained dog in a public place. A gate or fence that does not hold. A dog left with someone who cannot control it. A tethered or confined animal approached by a child. A dog with a known history that the owner never disclosed to a visitor, a delivery driver, or a professional handler.
None of that has to be proved to recover for a bite in California, because liability is strict. But the circumstances matter enormously to the value of a claim, to whether other parties such as a landlord share responsibility, and to whether the animal has a documented history that changes how an insurer treats the case.
Strict Liability Under Civil Code 3342
California Civil Code section 3342 makes a dog owner liable for damages suffered by anyone bitten in a public place, or lawfully in a private place, regardless of the animal’s former viciousness or the owner’s knowledge of it.
That last phrase is what matters. You do not have to prove the owner was careless, that the dog had bitten before, or that anyone knew it was dangerous. There is no free first bite in California.
The statute has limits worth understanding, and a bite does not have to break the skin to qualify. Our full guide to dog bite liability in California covers the exceptions, the defences insurers raise, and how injuries that are not bites are handled.
Deadlines That Can End Your Claim
This is where dog bite claims are most often lost, and it is the reason to speak to someone early.
The general deadline is two years from the date of the bite. If the victim is a child, the clock does not start until they turn eighteen, so the deadline falls on their twentieth birthday.
But if the dog belonged to a city, county, police department, or any other public agency, a written government claim must be presented within six months. After the agency rejects it, there is a further six-month window to file suit. A claim involving a police K-9 can be time-barred in well under a year, and the tolling that protects children does not apply to government claims.
If there is any chance a public agency was involved, treat the deadline as six months.
Common Dog Bite Injuries
Dog bites do damage out of proportion to how they look. Puncture wounds are narrow at the surface and deep underneath, driving bacteria into tissue, and infection is common.
The injuries we see most often are deep puncture and crush wounds, torn muscle and tendon, nerve damage causing lasting numbness or weakness, facial injuries requiring reconstructive surgery, and permanent scarring. Children are bitten on the face and head far more often than adults, simply because of their height relative to the animal.
Psychological injury is real and compensable. A lasting fear of dogs after an attack is common, particularly in children, and it is routinely undervalued by insurers who focus only on the medical bills.
Legal Rights for Dog Bite Victims
A dog bite victim in California can recover medical expenses, including future reconstructive or cosmetic surgery; lost income and reduced earning capacity; pain and suffering; emotional distress; and compensation for scarring and disfigurement.
Being partly at fault does not end a claim. California follows pure comparative negligence, so recovery is reduced by your share of responsibility but never barred, even where a victim is found mostly at fault. When an adjuster suggests that provoking the dog means you have no case, that is a negotiating position rather than the law.
Claims are usually paid by the owner’s homeowners or renters policy. Where the owner has no coverage, a landlord may be liable in some circumstances, and that avenue is frequently missed.
Importance of a Dog Bite Attorney
Strict liability makes the legal question simpler. It does not make the claim simple.
An insurer will look for a defence: that the victim was trespassing, that the dog was provoked, that the injury was not really a bite. It will value scarring low and psychological injury lower. It may argue that a policy exclusion applies. And it will often move quickly to settle before the full extent of a wound, or the need for future surgery, is understood.
An attorney secures the animal control record and the dog’s history, identifies every available policy including the landlord’s, protects a child’s claim through the court approval process, and makes sure future treatment is valued rather than ignored. Where a public agency is involved, the six-month claim gets filed on time.
How to Choose the Right Attorney
Ask how many dog bite claims the firm has actually handled, and what happened in them. Ask who will work on your file day to day. Ask how they approach scarring and psychological injury, because those are the elements most often left on the table.
Ask whether they will investigate the dog’s history and whether a landlord or other party may share liability. Ask what happens if the case does not settle.
And ask about fees. We work on contingency: there is no fee unless we recover for you, and the consultation costs nothing.
Free Case Review at B&D Injury Law Group
At B&D Law Group, APLC, we represent dog bite victims throughout California and from our North Las Vegas office. Many of our clients are parents of an injured child, and many are reluctant to bring a claim against someone they know. We can explain how these cases usually work, including the fact that compensation almost always comes from an insurance policy rather than from an individual.
If a public agency was involved, the deadline may be six months rather than two years, so the sooner we can look at it the better. Call us or request a free case review — there is no fee unless we recover for you.
This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. If you have been injured, speak with a licensed attorney about your specific situation.