Written and reviewed by Josh Kohanim, Esq., California Bar No. 328609 · Reviewed
In this guide
A parent or guardian of a child bitten in Los Angeles County faces different injuries, a different deadline, a court approval process, and rules on how the settlement money is held. The statute itself is covered in our guide to California dog bite law.
Why a child's bite reaches the face
A standing adult meets a dog at hand height. A child meets one at face height, and a child kneeling to greet a dog puts their eyes level with its mouth. That geometry is why the wounds our attorneys see on children are cheeks, lips, ears, scalp, and the area around the eye, and why a plastic surgeon is usually in the file by the second day.
California already has statutory language for these wounds. Food and Agricultural Code section 31604 defines severe injury as any physical injury to a human being that results in muscle tears or disfiguring lacerations or requires multiple sutures or corrective or cosmetic surgery. A child's facial bite frequently meets that definition on the night it happens, which matters twice: it is the threshold for a vicious dog determination under section 31603, and it is language an insurance adjuster reading the emergency room chart cannot easily argue with.
Why scar revision takes years
The first repair closes the wound. It does not finish the injury. A scar on a growing face changes as the face grows, and revision surgery is commonly staged across childhood, timed to growth rather than to convenience. That is the most important reason not to accept an early offer: the offer is made when the file shows one surgery, and the child may need several more before the face stops changing.
What builds the value is documentation over time: photographs at set intervals rather than one set on the night of the bite, a treating surgeon's written opinion on the number and type of future procedures, and a cost attached to each. Without those, a scar is described in a settlement demand instead of shown, and described scars settle low.
The psychological side deserves the same treatment. Fear of dogs, refusing to walk on the street where it happened, sleep disruption, and flinching around family pets are real and treatable, and they belong in the claim when someone qualified has evaluated and documented them. In children they frequently outlast the scar. We would rather have four sessions of records than an adjective in a demand letter.
The deadline for a child's claim
Code of Civil Procedure section 352(a) provides that if the person entitled to bring an action was under the age of majority when the cause of action accrued, the time of that disability is not part of the time limited for the commencement of the action. In plain terms, the two year clock in section 335.1 starts on the 18th birthday, so a child bitten at seven has until 20 to file.
| Defendant | Deadline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| A private dog owner or landlord | 2 years from the 18th birthday | CCP 335.1 with CCP 352(a) |
| A city, county, school district, or state agency | 6 months from the bite to present a claim | Government Code 911.2 |
| A public entity, after written rejection | 6 months from the rejection to sue | Government Code 945.6 |
| A parent's own claim for medical bills paid | 2 years, not paused | CCP 335.1 |
Why a judge approves a child's settlement
Two statutes create the requirement. Code of Civil Procedure section 372(a)(3) gives a guardian ad litem, the adult a court appoints to act for a child in a case, the power to compromise the claim with the approval of the court in which it is pending. Probate Code section 3500 covers the case where there is no lawsuit on file and no guardian of the estate, and says the compromise is valid only after it has been approved, on a petition, by the superior court.
The paperwork is standardized. California Rules of Court rule 7.950 requires the petition to be verified, meaning sworn to, by the petitioner and to contain a full disclosure of all information that has any bearing upon the reasonableness of the compromise, and to be submitted on Judicial Council form MC-350. In practice that means the court reads the medical records, the surgeon's opinion on future care, and the coverage available before anyone gets paid.
The judge also decides the attorney's fee. Rule 7.955 requires the court to use a reasonable fee standard when approving fees from a minor's recovery, lists the factors it may weigh, including the amount involved and the results obtained, the time and labor required, and the risk of loss borne by the attorney, and requires a declaration from counsel addressing those factors. A contingency percentage in a fee agreement is a starting point rather than the answer.
How a child's settlement money is held
The order does not hand a check to the parents. Probate Code section 3611 lists what the court may do with the remaining balance, and the choice is driven by the amount and by what the child will need.
| Option | What it means | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Blocked account | Deposit in an insured account or single-premium deferred annuity, withdrawable only on court authorization | The common order in a child's case |
| Special needs trust | A trust under Probate Code 3604, after a hearing with notice to state directors | A child with lasting disability and public benefits |
| Under $20,000 | Held on any other conditions the court finds to be in the child's best interest | Smaller recoveries |
| Under $5,000 | Paid to a parent without bond, on the conditions the statute sets | The smallest recoveries |
| Custodian or trustee | Transfer under the California Uniform Transfers to Minors Act, or a court-approved trust revocable at 18 | Structured planning for a larger recovery |
None of that should be a surprise on the day of the hearing. We explain which option we will ask for, and why, before the settlement is signed, because it affects what the family can use the money for while the child is a minor.
A case with these facts
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.
Three things carried that file. The dog had a documented history of aggression before it escaped, so the neighbors and the prior incidents did the work an insurer's denial usually forces you to do. The facial wounds required plastic surgery and left permanent scars, which put the case in the language of section 31604 rather than the language of a soft tissue claim. And the future counseling was priced and included rather than assumed. Every case turns on its own facts, its own injuries, and the coverage that exists.
When a child's case is harder
- The dog belongs to a relative you live with. Homeowners policies generally exclude injuries to residents of the insured household, which can leave no coverage at all even where liability is clear.
- The bite happened at a public school or a public park. The six month government claim deadline applies, and the tolling for minors does not.
- An older child was somewhere they were not invited. Lawful presence is an element of the statutory claim, and a teenager cutting through a fenced yard raises it.
- The child was handling or feeding the dog. Expect a comparative fault argument. It reduces an award by a percentage, and juries assign very little of it to young children.
- The family wants it over quickly. That is understandable, and usually a mistake. The court will ask what future care costs, and an answer of we do not know yet is the one answer that cannot be settled around.
What to do this week
Get the wound seen by a doctor who treats facial injuries, and ask for a plastic surgery referral even if the emergency room closed it. Photograph the wound daily and keep the photographs somewhere you will not lose them. Report the bite, and separately report the dog if you believe it is dangerous. Then stop talking to the owner's insurer, because your child's case is not ready to be valued and will not be for a long time.
For the rest of it, our Los Angeles dog bite lawyer page covers liability and the deadlines, who pays for a dog bite claim covers homeowners coverage and exclusions, and where the injuries are permanent and disfiguring, our catastrophic injury page explains how future care is proved.