The Humane Society estimates that 51 percent of all dog bite victims in the U.S. are children. In the State of New York, if a dog bites your child, obtain medical treatment for the child at once, and then arrange to speak with a New York City dog bite attorney at the Mark E. Seitelman Law Offices.

What are a parent’s rights in this state if a dog bites and injures your child? What steps should you take? Can your family be compensated by the dog’s owner – at least for your medical expenses?

Keep reading, and these questions will be answered in this brief discussion of dog bites, children, the law, and your family’s rights.

What Is Strict Liability?

New York’s dog bite statutes combine what the law calls “strict liability” with legal negligence when a biting dog’s owner (or the person who was “harboring” the dog at the time) is held liable for someone’s injury.

For a victim’s medical expenses arising from a dog bite injury, the owner or custodian of the dog is held “strictly” liable under New York law, even if that person was not negligent and used reasonable care to control the animal.

What Is the One-Bite Rule?

However, to obtain damages other than medical damages – such as compensation for your child’s personal pain and suffering – parents and their attorney must prove that the dog’s owner or custodian was negligent, meaning that the owner or custodian failed to control the dog or to alert potential victims to the dog’s aggressive tendencies.

The negligence provision for dog bites in New York law is also sometimes called the “one bite” rule. A dog owner or custodian who knows that a dog has previously bitten someone is legally responsible to make a sincere and reasonable effort to warn anyone who is in the dog’s vicinity.

How Dangerous Are Dog Bites?

Dog bites cause serious and sometimes catastrophic injuries, and as mentioned previously, children are the most frequent victims. Each year in the United States, there are more than 4.5 million reported dog bites. In 2020 in the U.S., dog bites caused forty-six fatalities.

When they bite, dogs can cause serious injuries, severe nerve damage, and a substantial loss of blood as well as staph infections, strep infections, and rabies. Recovery may take months – or longer – and require extensive multiple surgeries and/or long-term therapy.

Families have the right under New York law to be fully compensated for their medical expenses – and projected future medical expenses – when a child is injured by a biting dog. A New York City dog bite attorney at the Mark E. Seitelman Law Offices can help.

About Mark E. Seitelman Law Offices

For the parents of injured children, your first meeting with a personal injury attorney is provided without obligation or cost. You will obtain personalized legal advice to make an informed decision about moving forward with legal action.

We know how to win the compensation that the families of injured children need. Parents pay no attorney’s fee up front to the Mark E. Seitelman Law Offices, and you’ll owe us nothing until and unless we recover the compensation that will provide the medical care your child needs.