Does Breed Matter in Dog Bite Liability Cases?

When there is an accident involving a dog bite, the first thing that the victim, the person bitten, usually says or points out, is that the dog was an aggressive or dangerous dog, or a breed that is known (or at least, fairly or unfairly, believed to be) dangerous. But does this really matter? In a dog bite case, does the breed of the dog make any difference, legally?

Strict Liability

The answer is that a dog’s breed may be a factor—but it is not determinative of liability in a dog bite case.

One thing to remember is that dog bite cases are strict liability cases. That means that the dog’s owner is liable, regardless of what the owner did or did not do, or whether the owner actually did anything wrong.

That means that the owner of the dog is liable if the dog bites or otherwise injures someone, regardless of the breed. The fact that a dog was a “harmless breed,” or one that has no known propensity to attack or bite, is meaningless.

When Breed Might Matter

There may be some factual scenarios where, arguably, the breed of dog may be a factor in dog bite cases.

In dog bite cases, one defense is that the victim provoked the dog, as well as the victim’s own negligence in how he or she acted towards the dog. A victim could argue that he or she was not negligent to approach a certain “nicer” breed of dog, just as the dog owner could argue that the dog likely did not bite the person at all, because the dog is or was a “nicer” type breed.

If provocation is an issue, and an expert is needed, the expert may rely on dog breed history and aggressive tendencies, to argue that a given breed is more or less likely to bite.

Dog breed may also influence a jury—even if you can’t legally say it in court, a jury that hears that a dog is of a certain breed that gets a lot of news press about attacks or violence, can be influenced, altering their decisionmaking.

Is it Even Relevant?

As you may imagine, entering the dog’s breed as something for a jury to consider becomes problematic. That’s because it may not be legally relevant at all.

Even if we have tangible evidence that a certain dog breed is aggressive, that doesn’t mean that every dog in that breed is also aggressive.

So, saying that Breed X tends to be a guard dog, or used by police, or for guarding or hunting, all potentially aggressive uses, that doesn’t mean that Fido the Family Dog, that is that same breed, was also aggressive just like his working brothers and sisters of the same breed.

Just common experience tells us that there are many very sweet dogs that would never bite anybody, even though they are breeds that are known to be more aggressive or violent overall.

What matters in a dog bite accident case is how the individual dog behaved on the day of the accident. Dog aggression history is often not relevant to that inquiry.

Call the Boston personal injury lawyers The Law Office of Joseph Linnehan, Jr. today at 617-275-4200 for help if you were bitten or injured in any way, by any breed of dog.

Sources:

dogexpert.com/dog-bites-by-breed-2/

businessinsider.com/personal-finance/homeowners-insurance/restricted-dog-breeds-homeowners-and-renters-insurance