Dog Bites

Florida has a strict liability dog bite statute that states that the owner of a dog is liable for damages inflicted by his/her dog if it bites a person who is either in a public place or lawfully on the dog owner’s property. Fla. Stat. § 767.04 . The dog owner is liable regardless of whether the dog had ever been vicious before and regardless of whether the owner had reason to believe it would behave in a vicious manner. The dog does not get "one free bite". In essence, the dog’s owner is an insurer of the dog. If a stray bites you, you have little legal recourse because you must file your claim against a dog's owner or keeper. Your municipality is not responsible for the dog, even if you have called the animal warden several times to pick up the stray.

A landlord has a duty to protect its tenants in connection with a vicious dog of which the landlord has knowledge. In White v. Whitworth, 509 So. 2d 378, 380 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987), the court stated, "A landlord who recognizes and assumes the duty to protect co-tenants from dangerous propensities of a tenant's pet is required to undertake reasonable precautions to protect co-tenants from reasonably foreseeable injury occasioned thereby." See also Vasquez v. Lopez, 509 So. 2d 1241 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987) (holding that landlord may be liable for tenant's dog if landlord knows dog is vicious and has sufficient control of premises to protect plaintiff).

Where the lease agreement includes rules which specifically prohibit certain breeds of dogs, the landlord can be held liable for his failure to enforce those rules despite knowledge that prohibited dogs reside upon the premises. For example, in Ramirez v. M.L. Management Co., Inc., 920 So.2d 36 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005), the landlord was aware that a tenant's pit bulls had threatened other tenants, but the landlord did not evict the owner of the pit bulls. When they attacked a child who was on adjacent property, the landlord was held liable.

However, there are exceptions to liability. There might not be liability where the victim is a trespasser or exceeded her invitation to be on the premises. For example, in Anderson v. Walthal, 468 So. 2d 291 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985), a woman coming to a home for a business purpose went around to the back of the home where a dog bit her. The landlord claimed that the woman had exceeded her "invitation" by wandering into an area behind the home where the dog was located. The court held that a jury question existed as to whether the woman had exceeded the scope of her business invitation.

In Tran v. Bancroft, 648 So. 2d 314 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995), it was held that a landlord has no duty to third parties for injuries caused by a tenant's dog where those injuries occur off the leased premises. In Tran, a landlord leased a single family home to a tenant who owned a dog known to the landlord to be vicious and over which the landlord could have exercised control. The dog jumped over the fence and bit a child in the neighboring yard. It was held that the victim had no remedy because the landlord had no duty to protect against harm occurring off the landlord's premises.

However, a landlord can be held liable for a dog attack that occurs off the premises under certain circumstances. In Ramirez v. M.L. Management Co., Inc., 920 So.2d 36 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005), a landlord was held liable for a dog attack which occurred off the premises but in an adjacent park that the landlord had advertised as an amenity of the premises. The court reasoned that "there was evidence from which a jury could conclude that the landlord "extended its operation" to the park, by advertising it as an amenity next to the complex and inviting its tenants to take advantage of it as part of the amenities."

Two issues often arise when the dog bite victim is a child. One is comparative negligence, namely whether the child's conduct provoked the dog, thereby making the child a cause of the accident and reducing his recovery of damages. Florida has determined that a child under the age of six is conclusively presumed to be incapable of committing such negligence. Swindell v. Hellkamp, 242 So.2d 708 (Fla. 1970). When the child is six or older, the jury must decide whether he was capable of appreciating and avoiding the danger; if so, he can be regarded as comparatively negligent. Turner v. Seegar, 151 Fla. 643, 10 So.2d 320 (1942).

The other is whether the child's recovery can be reduced because his parent failed to adequately supervise him, thereby making the parent a cause of the accident and reducing the compensation payable by the dog owner or other liable party. The jury is entitled to apportion fault to the parent even where the parent is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Y.H. Investments, Inc., v. Godales, 690 So.2d 1273 (Fla. 1997).

In cases where the parent is comparatively liable because he failed to supervise his child, but the parent is not insured, there are two important rules. If the parent is without liability insurance, then parental immunity is not waived and the child cannot sue the parent. Ard v. Ard, 414 So. 2d 1066, 1067 (Fla. 1982). Similarly, because of the parent's lack of insurance, the dog owner or other liable party cannot make a claim against the parent for "contribution" -- i.e., a claim that the parent pay some of the compensation that the dog owner had to pay to the child. Joseph v. Quest, 414 So. 2d 1063, 1065 n.5 (Fla. 1982).

In all dog bite cases it is essential that measures be taken promptly to preserve evidence, investigate the incident in question, and to enable physicians or other expert witnesses to thoroughly evaluate any injuries. If you or a loved one is a victim of a dog bite, call Williams & Moore, P.A. now at (866) 258-6700. The initial consultation is free of charge, and if we agree to accept your case, we will work on a contingent fee basis, which means we get paid for our services only if there is a monetary award or recovery of funds. Don’t delay! You may have a valid claim and be entitled to compensation for your injuries, but a lawsuit must be filed before the statute of limitations expires.