Can I be sued if my dog is tied up on a chain and bites a child? 35 Answers as of February 20, 2012

If the dog was known to bite and could reach a public sidewalk or other public area where the child had a right to be, yes. Report the matter to your homeowner's insurance.

You can be sued for anything. The issue is will the other party be able to recover for the incident. Did you know the child was in your yard? Did you or a family member invite the child into the yard? How old is the child? Young children can not be contributorily negligent. How bad were they injured.? All of these questions are relevant to determine what may happen in your case.

yes as long as the child was not trespassing and was not teasing tormenting or abusing the dog. you probably have insurance to cover this claim if you have homeowners or renters insurance The information contained in this email may be confidential and/or legally privileged. It has been sent for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). If the reader of this message is not an intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication, or any of its contents, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.

Anyone can be sued, but it does not appear that you did anything wrong. You should refer this matter to your insurance company.

You can always be sued. Whether or not they win will depend on the facts .

You can. It is your responsibility to keep the dog from biting the child. There are other factors but dog bite cases usually go against the owner.

It depends where the dog was tied up. Heres the statute: Civil Code 3342. (a) The owner of any dog is liable for the damages suffered by any person who is bitten by the dog while in a public place or lawfully in a private place, including the property of the owner of the dog, regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner's knowledge of such viciousness. A person is lawfully upon the private property of such owner within the meaning of this section when he is on such property in the performance of any duty imposed upon him by the laws of this state or by the laws or postal regulations of the United States, or when he is on such property upon the invitation, express or implied, of the owner.

Yes. If your dog was chained up in an area that a reasonably prudent dog owner would avoid due to the presence of young children, then you may be held liable for the child's injuries. The Law Office of Josh Lamborn 820 SW 2nd Avenue, Suite 280 Portland, Oregon 97204 (503) 546-0461 jpl@pdxinjury.com

One can almost always be sued. The question , in this matter , is did you violate any duty of care?

You could be sued. The law in Oregon is: To recover economic damages (medical expenses, wage loss, etc.), the plaintiff must prove the following by a preponderance of the evidence: (1) The defendant was the possessor of the dog; and (2) The defendant failed to use reasonable care to prevent the dog from harming the plaintiff. To recover noneconomic damages (pain and suffering), the plaintiff must prove elements (1) and (2), and: (3) The defendant knew or should have known that the dog would cause the injury if the defendant did not control or confine the dog.

Potentially, but probably not if you took reasonable precautions to secure the yard and the animal and the child was trespassing. One way to help protect yourself is to put a "Bad Dog" sign at all entrances to the yard.

Yes. You should turn over any claim to your homeowners carrier. It should be covered and they will defend the claim.

Depends on type of dog, what child was doing, and whether you considered negligent. You will probably be responsible but I need more details.

You may be sued by anyone at any time, you may not always be found liable. Depending on where the dog was located, the age of the child and what the child was doing when the dog bit him, you may or may not be liable. You should consult an attorney with the specific facts of your case.

Yes. CA Civil Code Section 3342 makes the owner liable for any dog bite if the owner's dog bites the victim in a public place or the victim is lawfully in a private place. The fact that the dog was on a chain does not change the liability.

Yes, you can. But, it depends on more specific facts as to whether you will really be held accountable. How old was child? Dog in front yard or back? Yard fenced, etc?

Yes unless the dog is provoked

Yes, you can be held liable for injuries caused by your dog even if your dog is chained at the time of the injury. In California dog owners are held Strictly Liable for the injuries caused by their dogs; meaning that the owner of a dog is almost always automatically responsible for injuries caused by their dog. Usually, a dog owner's homeowner's insurance policy extends to cover these types of situations. If a claim is made against you for this incident, you can turn it over to your homeowner's insurance company (assuming you have homeowners coverage) and they should represent you.

Yes. If you have home owner's insurance you should put your carrier on notice.

You need to check your state's dog bite laws but in most cases you can still be liable if your dog bites a child even though tied up.

It sort of depends. If the child was trespassing maybe not. Particularly if the dog had showed no vicious tendencies in the past. Check with a local attorney on this one.