Written and reviewed by Josh Kohanim, Esq., California Bar No. 328609 · Reviewed
Quick questions
Why the dog's owner has to pay
We represent people bitten by a dog in Los Angeles County, most often a parent whose child was bitten this week. The claim turns on who is liable, the defenses that apply, how the county handles the dog, what insurance pays, and how long you have. Horses, livestock, and wild animals are governed by different rules.
The core of a California dog bite case is one sentence of statute. Civil Code section 3342(a) says 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, including the property of the owner of the dog, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner's knowledge of that viciousness. There is no negligence to prove and no prior bite to find.
The jury hears this as four elements. Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instruction No. 463, in the 2025 edition of CACI, tells jurors that people who own dogs can be held responsible for the harm from a dog bite, no matter how carefully they guard or restrain their dogs. It then lists what you have to prove:
- The defendant owned a dog.
- The dog bit you while you were in a public place or lawfully on private property.
- You were harmed.
- The defendant's dog was a substantial factor in causing that harm.
Lawful presence is the element that gets litigated. CACI No. 463 defines it for the jury: you were lawfully on private property if you were performing a duty required by law, such as delivering mail, or were there at the invitation of the owner, express or implied. That keeps trespassers out of the statute (Fullerton v. Conan (1948) 87 Cal.App.2d 354, 358). Our guide to California dog bite law works through it subdivision by subdivision.
Does the dog get one free bite?
The phrase describes the old common law rule that an owner answered for an animal only if the owner knew it was dangerous, which gave the animal one free bite. California replaced that rule for bites with section 3342 and left the common law standing for everything else. CACI No. 462 is that older theory, and it still reaches an animal with an unusually dangerous nature the owner knew or should have known about.
The cases listed under CACI No. 463 as its authorities put it plainly: section 3342 is an exception to the general rule requiring knowledge of a vicious propensity (Hicks v. Sullivan (1932) 122 Cal.App. 635, 639). An owner's statement that the dog had never done this before is not a defense under section 3342.
If the dog knocked you down instead
The distinction decides cases. Section 3342 applies to a bite, and a bite does not require torn skin: CACI No. 463's authorities state it is not necessary that the skin be broken (Johnson v. McMahan (1998) 68 Cal.App.4th 173, 176). A dog that clamps down through a jacket sleeve has bitten someone.
A dog that does something else is a different case. A loose dog that knocks a 70 year old off her feet, or puts a cyclist into a parked car, has not bitten anyone. That claim runs on ordinary negligence under Civil Code section 1714(a), on CACI No. 462 if the owner knew the dog charged people, or on negligence per se where a confinement rule was broken.
Negligence per se means a statute supplies the standard of care. Under Evidence Code section 669(a), a person is presumed to have failed to use due care if they violated a statute or ordinance, the violation proximately caused the injury, the injury was the kind the rule was designed to prevent, and the injured person was in the class it protects. Health and Safety Code section 121690 is one example: a dog exempted from rabies vaccination must be confined, and off the premises kept on a leash no longer than six feet.
| What happened | The theory | What must be proved |
|---|---|---|
| The dog bit you | Civil Code 3342 | Ownership, a bite, lawful presence, harm |
| The dog knocked you down | Negligence, Civil Code 1714 | A failure to use reasonable care |
| The dog had charged people before | Common law, CACI 462 | A dangerous tendency the owner knew of |
| A confinement rule was broken | Negligence per se, Evidence Code 669 | The violation and the four conditions |
The two claims are proved with different evidence. A knockdown that puts a head on the pavement often becomes a brain injury case, a fall on a walkway can also be a slip and fall claim against the property owner, and a dog in the roadway puts a pedestrian or a cyclist in front of a car.
Who is responsible besides the owner
Section 3342 names one defendant: the owner. Everyone else who might pay is reached through negligence, so knowledge and control matter. The first questions we ask are who held the leash, who owned the property, and who could have stopped it.
Landlords are the most misunderstood defendant on this list. A landlord is not liable because a tenant kept a dangerous dog. In Uccello v. Laudenslayer (1975) 44 Cal.App.3d 504, the Court of Appeal held that a duty of care arises when the landlord has actual knowledge of the presence of the dangerous animal and has the right to remove it by retaking possession of the premises. The same opinion holds a landlord has no duty to inspect for a tenant's dog, and that actual knowledge, not constructive knowledge, is required.
| Party | Theory | Strict liability or negligence |
|---|---|---|
| The dog's owner | Civil Code 3342 | Strict liability |
| A keeper or handler | CACI 462, negligence | Negligence, or strict with knowledge |
| A landlord | Uccello v. Laudenslayer | Negligence, and only with actual knowledge |
| A business or property owner | Premises liability | Negligence |
| A parent of a minor owner | Negligence, and control of the animal | Negligence |
A bite on a business's property or in an apartment common area also sits alongside a premises liability claim, investigated the same way: who knew, and when.
What the dog's owner will argue
Owners and their insurers raise provocation first. Section 3342 contains no provocation exception. Provocation matters indirectly, because it can support comparative fault or assumption of the risk, and because the state's dangerous dog definitions turn on whether the dog was unprovoked. It affects percentages rather than barring the claim.
Comparative fault means a jury assigns each person a percentage of responsibility and reduces the award by the injured person's share. CACI No. 463's authorities confirm that assumption of the risk and contributory negligence may still be asserted under section 3342 (Johnson, at p. 176). Assumption of the risk, meaning you knowingly accepted the danger, is the defense that ends cases, and it is occupational. A veterinarian or veterinary assistant who accepts employment to treat a dog, aware that any dog might bite while being treated, has assumed that risk as part of the job (Nelson v. Hall (1985) 165 Cal.App.3d 709, 715). The Supreme Court extended that reasoning to a kennel worker in Priebe v. Nelson (2006) 39 Cal.4th 1112.
The statute also carves out government working dogs. Section 3342(b) removes bites by an agency dog used in military or police work while it defends itself or assists in an arrest, an investigation, a warrant, or the defense of a person. Subdivision (c) takes that exception back where the person bitten was a bystander, and subdivision (d) applies it only where the agency has adopted a written policy on the use of a dog.
| Defense | What it requires | What answers it |
|---|---|---|
| Provocation | Conduct that set the dog off | No provocation exception exists. It is a percentage argument |
| Trespass | You were not lawfully there | Invitation, or a duty required by law |
| Assumption of the risk | An occupation that accepts bites | You were not employed to handle this dog |
| Comparative fault | Some share of responsibility on you | It reduces the award by that share, nothing more |
| Police or military dog | Section 3342(b) and a written policy | Subdivision (c), if you were a bystander |
What to do after a dog bite
Two of those carry more weight than the rest. The first is the medical record. The wound photographs, the culture results, and the surgeon's notes are what show a stranger what happened to a face.
The second is reporting, because Los Angeles County splits it in two. The Department of Public Health's Veterinary Public Health Program handles the rabies side and states on its own site that a bite report does not mean the animal is deemed dangerous, and that residents who believe an animal is dangerous must file a separate report with animal control. Our guide to reporting a dog bite in Los Angeles covers both tracks and lists the agencies.
What counts as a dangerous dog
California defines its dog labels by statute. They set what an animal control hearing can do, and they describe injuries in statutory language.
| Term | Statutory definition | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Potentially dangerous dog | Unprovoked behavior twice in 36 months forcing someone to take defensive action off the owner's property, or an unprovoked bite causing a less severe injury than section 31604 defines | Food and Agricultural Code 31602 |
| Vicious dog | A dog that, when unprovoked, in an aggressive manner, inflicts severe injury on or kills a human being | Food and Agricultural Code 31603 |
| Severe injury | Physical injury to a human being that results in muscle tears or disfiguring lacerations or requires multiple sutures or corrective or cosmetic surgery | Food and Agricultural Code 31604 |
- 36 monthsLookback for a potentially dangerous designationFood and Agricultural Code 31602
- 10 daysPost-bite observation for a biting dog or catLA County Public Health
- 6 feetLeash limit for a dog exempt from rabies vaccinationHealth and Safety Code 121690
- 2 yearsDeadline to file a dog bite lawsuitCode of Civil Procedure 335.1
Those figures come from Food and Agricultural Code sections 31602, 31603, and 31604, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, and Health and Safety Code section 121690.
Civil Code section 3342.5(a) gives the owner of a dog that has bitten a human being a duty to take such reasonable steps as are necessary to remove any danger presented to other persons from bites by the animal. Later subdivisions let a person, a district attorney, or a city attorney sue after two separate bites, and let a court order the animal removed or destroyed.
Who pays a dog bite claim
Almost always a homeowners or renters liability policy, not the owner personally. In the California Department of Insurance's residential insurance guide, Coverage E covers a household member who is legally responsible for injury to others, and normally pays for the defense too. Coverage F pays medical expenses for people accidentally injured on the property.
The complications are inside the policy. A policy may carry an animal exclusion, which is language removing coverage for injuries caused by a pet, and it is written into the policy rather than announced. Coverage can also be small: the guide says a renters policy's personal liability is generally subject to a minimum of $100,000. Our guide on who pays for a dog bite claim covers exclusions, umbrella policies, landlord coverage, uninsured owners, and how the medical bills get paid.
What a dog bite case is worth
Dog bite injuries are valued differently because a scar is permanent and visible. A herniated disc is argued over on an MRI; a scar on a cheek is visible to a jury. That is why the phrase in section 31604, disfiguring lacerations or injury requiring multiple sutures or corrective surgery, keeps appearing in the records of the cases that matter.
Children are bitten in the face and neck because of where their faces are when a dog lunges. A child's case differs in three ways: the surgery is staged over years as the child grows, the psychological injury belongs in the claim, and no settlement is final without a judge. Our guide on child dog bite injuries covers scar revision, court approval, and why these cases should not be settled quickly.
Dog bite, facial scarring
A ten-year-old, a neighbor's dog with a history, and an owner who refused responsibility.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case depends on its own facts, injuries, and insurance coverage. Amounts shown are gross recoveries before attorney's fees, costs, and medical liens.
That case is our own. A 10 year old boy was playing in his front yard when a neighbor's dog with a history of aggression escaped and bit him on the face. The wounds required plastic surgery and left permanent scars. The owner refused responsibility and the first offer was $45,000. Witness statements and the dog's earlier incidents built the case, and it resolved for $1,000,000 covering medical expenses, pain and suffering, and future counseling.
There is no verifiable average settlement for a California dog bite. Pages that publish one have no verifiable source. What sets the number is the location and depth of the wound, how many procedures are ahead, how the scar reads two years later, whether a psychological injury is documented, and how much coverage exists. Our case results page shows what we have recovered.
How long you have to file
| Who you are suing | Deadline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| A private owner, landlord, or business | 2 years from the bite | Code of Civil Procedure 335.1 |
| A city, county, or state entity | 6 months to present a government claim | Government Code 911.2 |
| A public entity, after a written rejection | 6 months from the rejection to sue | Government Code 945.6 |
| A child bitten before turning 18 | The 2 years starts at the 18th birthday | Code of Civil Procedure 352(a) |
Section 335.1 gives two years for an injury caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. Section 352(a) provides that the time of a minority is not part of the time limited for starting the action. Government Code section 911.2 requires a claim against a public entity within six months, and section 352(b) says that tolling, the pause for a minor, does not rescue a missed government claim.
When there is no dog bite case
There are situations the statute does not reach, and we would rather say so on the first call.
- You were trespassing. Lawful presence is an element, not a technicality.
- You were bitten in an occupation that accepts the risk. Veterinary staff and kennel workers handling a dog under a contract for their services generally cannot use section 3342.
- It was a police or military dog doing defined work, under section 3342(b) and subject to the limits in subdivisions (c) and (d).
- There was no bite and no negligence. A dog that startled you into a fall is a case only if someone broke a rule or failed to use reasonable care.
- The deadline has run. Two years for an adult, six months against a public entity.
- There is nothing to collect. An uninsured owner with no assets can be liable and still not be worth suing.
How we work a dog bite case
- 1Get you treated first
Wound care, then the plastic surgery consultation, then whatever the scar needs, often with nothing out of pocket.
- 2Establish the dog's history
The animal control file, prior bite reports, the 10 day observation record, license and vaccination status, and the neighbors who complained.
- 3Find every policy
Homeowners, renters, umbrella, and the landlord's policy where the landlord knew. We ask for the declarations page, the policy's summary of coverages, and read the exclusions ourselves.
- 4Handle the insurer
We take the recorded statement request and the calls. The first offer is a negotiating position, and it arrives before treatment is finished.
- 5Document the scar over time
Photographs at intervals, the surgeon's opinion on future revisions, and their cost. A scar photographed once undervalues the case.
- 6Track the deadline
Two years, or six months if a public entity is in the file, plus court approval for a child's settlement.
Our attorneys handle these cases from the first call through trial, and the responsible attorney is Josh Kohanim. There is no fee unless we recover. Questions that are not about your case are answered on our frequently asked questions page and across the rest of our practice areas.
Talk to a dog bite lawyer
If a dog bit you or your child in a public place or somewhere you were invited to be, the owner is liable, and the fact that the dog had never bitten anyone changes nothing. If the dog did something other than bite, you may still have a case, but it is a negligence case built out of different evidence. Either way the county wants two reports, and the deadline is two years unless a public entity is involved.
See a doctor today, write down the owner's name and address, photograph everything, and call us before you sign anything. If a catastrophic injury or a death is involved, our wrongful death page explains how those claims work.