Falls Caused by Dogs: What Kind of Case is It?

Many people believe that a dog has to bite you, in order for the owner to be liable to compensate you for injuries caused by the dog. But that isn’t the case at all–dogs can injure people in a number of ways, even innocently or playfully. One way that tends to happen, are falls–dogs causing people to fall.

Whether someone falls because the dog is chasing them or being aggressive, or whether they fall just because a dog is playfully roughhousing causing someone to lose their balance, the fall brings up an interesting legal question–if the victim does sue for compensation for injuries, are the injuries caused by the dog, or by the fall? In other words, what kind of liability case is it?

Different Kinds of Cases

This is a big question, because falls, and dog injury cases, are handled very differently.

Falls and premises liability cases operate on negligence; is the property owner (here, the owner of the dog), doing something that an ordinary person wouldn’t do in the exercise of care and caution? The victim has to show what the property owner did wrong, to hold the owner liable.

But dog injury cases are different, because dog injury cases are strict liability cases. That means that so long as what the dog did caused the injury, the owner of the dog is liable for the injuries–it doesn’t matter what the dog’s owner knew or didn’t know or what the owner could have or should have done or what a reasonable person would have or would not have done.

Arguing for Strict Liability

As a general rule, if a dog does cause you to fall, your injury attorney can argue that the case is a dog injury case, and thus, that strict liability–an easier standard to prove for injury victims–should apply. Of course there must be some connection between what the dog did, and your fall.

Other Legal Issues in Dog Injury Cases

Of course, dog injury cases have their own set of legal issues that may arise. Victims still have to prove who owned the dog. Additionally, some insurance policies may not cover injuries caused by dogs, with the same readiness and willingness that they do traditional fall and injury cases.

More Common Than You Think

It’s hard to get a handle on how many falls are caused every year by dogs, but it’s common enough that many government agencies do keep statistics on these kinds of accidents. Many of them, however, include falls the dog causes to its own owner (such as when a dog pulls its owner over on a leash). Additionally, many statistics include cats, which, surprisingly, cause more falls every year than dogs do.

The National Institute of Health estimates that over 80,000 people fall every year because of cats and dogs. While there are no statistics on dogs specifically causing accidents to non-owners, it is likely a high percentage of that number.

Injured by a dog, or a fall? Either way, we can help you. Schedule a consultation with our Tampa personal injury lawyers at Barbas, Nunez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian today for help after your injury or accident.

Source:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20226954/