When Is The Dog’s Owner Not Responsible For Dog Bite?

Usually, the owner of a pet canine has a legal duty to control that same pet. Still, there are some situations that qualify as an exception.

Who was caring for the canine that attacked and bit someone?

• Was it the dog’s walker?
• Was it the dog’s owner?
• Was it a neighbor?
• Was it a landlord?

Rules that apply to assumption of strict liability for dog owner

Personal Injury Lawyer in Bedford knows that the injured person must have been present at the spot where the biting incident took place and should not have provoked the owner’s canine in some way.

Reasons that a landlord might be held liable for a dog bite

Landlord had allowed a certain tenant to keep a dangerous dog on the property that was owned by the landlord. It could be that the tenant had paid the landlord to go along with the arrangement.

Landlord had failed to fix a defect on a barrier that surrounds the landlord’s property. That failure had provided the dangerous pet canine with a way to escape and then bite somebody.

Landlord had agreed to care for a tenant’s pet, typically, in return for a payment of money.

Possible defenses for a landlord that has been held responsible for a dog bite

The landlord had planned to have the dangerous animal removed, but had received a court order, one that had blocked such a removal. Maybe he/she had tried to remove that particular animal, but was unable to do so.

Who might be at-risk, if a landlord has failed to arrange for adequate control of a tenant’s dangerous pet?

• One of more of the other tenants
• Anyone that attempts to visit one of the other tenants
• Any contractor that needs to work on some area inside of or outside of the building that is owned by the landlord
• Any service person that has arrived to service a piece of equipment in one of the tenant’s living quarters
• Someone that has been charged with delivering the mail to the tenants in the landlord’s building

How might one of the possible victims named above encounter a challenge, when seeking compensation for their injury?

If the bitten person were another tenant, then he or she might find that not every tenant was willing to function as a witness, and speak against the landlord. If the bitten person were a contractor or a service worker, then he or she might face a challenge, when trying to prove the extent of any monetary loss, while recovering from the bite injury.

The challenges possible to a mail delivery person could entail the amount of cooperation from the government, or the extent to which the injured party had become friendly with the landlord.

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