Is a homeowner liable for a kid sticking his hand through their fence and getting bit?
Question Details:
We have an 11 year old lab, who we have never had a problem with before. He is usually scared and runs away from people and other dogs. A boy from down the street, probably around 11, stuck his hand through our fence and said our dog bit him. We did not witness the incident. My husband caught him poking a stick through our fence at our dog this summer and told him to stop. My husband was gone and I was in our house when this happened. He came up to my husband later and told him our dog bit him. There are 2 red dots on his finger.
Hello. My name is Natasha Goodarzian and I am an attorney licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I came across your question and would like to help you get it answered.
In Virginia, a keeper of an animal that knows of its dangerous propensities can be held liable for injuries the animal causes. However, a common defense is that the child/person aggravated the dog.
Keep in mind that if someone sues you, there must be damages for which they can come after and be able to prove that the damages were caused by the thing they claim caused it. Two red dots suggests that the damages are not significant, so they might not be able to recover much, if anything, especially since there is a proof problem. FYI: in some instances, your homeowner's insurance can be held responsible on your behalf.
Good luck!
Probably not. Liability depends on fault, which usually means negligence, or carelessness. If the dog was in your fenced yard, you were not being careless; similarly, if you had no prior warning or history of bite attacks, you'd have no reason to think you'd have to take extraordinary measures and do more than fence the dog. The mere fact that the boy was hurt does not make you liable if you did everything right. Indeed, depending on circumstances, it's not impossible you could file charges or a complaint vs the boy for trespassing or animal cruelty. This does not mean the boy's family might not try to press a claim vs. you, but you would seem, from what you right, to be well positioned to defend it.
