Meet your host:
 Attorney Kenneth Phillips is the author of this web site. He has a unique law practice: he represents only people who have been bitten by a dog.
His clients include children and adults throughout the United States.
Mr. Phillips welcomes E-mail from visitors to this website, especially dog bite victims and their families. He responds personally and answers questions for free. Click here to write to him and receive his personal reply within hours (his E-mail address is kphillips@dogbitelaw.com). Reporters seeking interviews or information are welcome to click here.
Mr. Phillips is widely recognized as the nation's leading authority on dog bite law. A frequent guest on CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, MS-NBC, Fox News Channel, and Court TV, he has been called "the dog bite king" (Today Show and Lawyers Weekly), "a leading expert in dog bite law" (Good Housekeeping), and "the nation's best known practitioner of terrier torts" (Los Angeles Times).
Find out more about him at Meet Kenneth Phillips.
Overview of Dog Bite Law :
American dog bite law consists of civil and criminal law, found in state statutes, county and city ordinances, and court decisions The laws vary widely among jurisdictions. In each, the key issue is the extent to which the jurisdiction follows the old English "one bite rule." This ancient law shields a dog owner or harborer from liability, civilly and criminally, until he has a certain degree of knowledge that his dog is dangerous or vicious. Most states have abolished or substantially modified the "one bite rule" and hold a dog owner strictly liable for dog bite injuries as long as the victim was not trespassing and did not provoke the dog.
To learn about the civil laws, start at Legal Rights of Dog Bite Victims in the USA. For criminal laws, go to Dangerous and Vicious Dogs. For model laws that create a fair balance between the rights of the community and dog owners, see Model Dog Bite Laws.
Before deciding what to do after a dog bite, read Does an Adult Need a Lawyer for a Dog Bite Claim? or Should Parents Get a Lawyer for Their Injured Child?
To learn the statistics and how to prevent dog bites, see the topics in For Journalists, Lawmakers and Academics.
Dog Attack Danger Scale:
Many of the recent maulings and killings involved the following factors. The presence of two or more of them is to be avoided:
- More than one dog in their own yard, and no master present. Being in a yard controlled by one or more dogs, with the owner off somewhere else, is a common feature of many of the most recent canine inflicted homicides.
- Pit bull, Rottweiler, Akita or Chow. Where death is the result, the dog is most often a pit bull or a Rottweiler. The two other breeds that Attorney Kenneth Phillips sees most in his law practice are Akitas and Chows.
- The pack mentality. 3 dogs are worse than 2, 4 are worse than 3, etc. It is well established that docile dogs often become uncharacteristically violent and vicious when they are in a pack.
- Chained or tethered. Chained dogs become dangerous.
- Male. Male dogs are several times more dangerous than female dogs.
Attorney Kenneth Phillips' Dog Attack Danger Scale will help you quickly assess the potential danger of a situation, but read Why Dogs Bite People to learn the causes of dog attacks, and Preventing Dog Bites for his 10-point plan to end the dog bite epidemic.
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At the Dog Bite Law Bookstore :
 What To Do If Your Dog Is Injured Or Killed by Attorney Kenneth Phillips is a legal self-help book that tells a dog owner how to get reimbursed for vet bills, and compensated for your anguish when your dog is wrongfully injured or killed. Download and use today. |
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 Thorough pleadings, hard-hitting discovery, and far more, including Mr. Phillips' 50-topic deposition outline. Save hours of work with his Dog Bite Litigation Forms. Only for plaintiffs' lawyers. Inexpensive. Good in all states. Download one minute after purchase and use today.
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 Tips and tricks that cannot be found anywhere else. Anatomy of a Dog Bite Case is a video of Mr. Phillips' 2-1/2 hour seminar for plaintiffs' lawyers. Learn the new causes of action, how to overcome all of the common defenses, how to settle your case, and more. Inexpensive. Good in all states.
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 Avoiding Liability When You Train, Shelter or Adopt Out is "a necessity for every serious canine professional." For trainers, adoption and rescue groups, and shelters. Includes Mr. Phillips' 1-1/2 hour seminar on a DVD, and a CD ROM of ready-to-use legal documents that he drafted especially for this package.
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In the news:
Persons killed by dogs in June 2008: Two Americans were killed by dogs in June. Pablo Hernandez, 5, of Hidalgo County, Texas, was mauled to death by a pit bull on June 18, 2008. Loraine May, 74, of Brevard County, Florida, was killed by her own two dogs on June 26, 2008. For details, see the Dog Bite Victim Log. Texas is a one-bite state and in 2007 it led the USA in fatal dog attacks. Florida was among the top 5 deadliest states.
The death count in 2007-2008: The USA has sustained a total of 7 fatal dog attacks in 2008. There were 32 in 2007. For details and a month-by-month breakdown of canine homicides since July 2006, see Dangerous and Vicious Dogs. For Attorney Kenneth Phillips' commentaries about such attacks and other issues related to dog bite law, go to The Dog Bite Victim Log.
The link between human deaths and the one bite rule: 18 of the 32 fatal dog maulings that happened in the USA in 2007 occurred in the 21 states where the laws are weakest:
-- 10 took place in the 18 "one bite states." (See Legal Rights of Dog Bite Victims in the USA to learn how the states are categorized.)
-- 8 happened in three "mixed dog bite statute" states (referring to Georgia, Tennessee and New York, which have dog bite statutes that substantially embody the "one bite rule" while containing some degree of strict liability).
-- 14 were in the 29 statutory strict liability states.
The deadliest states: The states that led the death toll in 2007 were Texas (7 deaths, one bite state), Georgia (4 deaths, mixed statute state), Tennessee (4 deaths, mixed statute state), Illinois (three deaths, strict liability state), and Florida (three deaths, strict liability state).
The first step to prevent dog bites: While 18 human deaths-by-maulings happened in the 18 one bite states and three "mixed" states, only 14 occurred in the 29 statutory strict liability states. These statistics support the view that the one bite rule needs to be replaced in the 21 states that continue to rely upon it (i.e., the 18 one bite states plus the three mixed states).
The one bite rule actually protects dog owners from their own negligence, even if it results in the death of another person. This old English law demands little or no vigilance on the part of dog owners. A single dog owner can own one biting dog after another, without fear of civil liability, because every dog gets that one free bite, mauling or killing. To learn more about the deadly one bite rule, click here.
29 American states have completely rejected the one bite rule because its primary effect in modern times is to prevent dog bite victims from making insurance claims for anything more than medical expenses. Dog bites are covered by liability insurance, such as homeowners, renters and some umbrella insurance policies, but the victim still must prove that his claim rests on legal grounds. The one bite rule makes this difficult or impossible in many cases, and therefore benefits insurance companies at the expense of the injured, who are mostly children.
There should be no right to bite. The one bite rule should be rejected in every state and every country. The safety of children in one bite states like Texas, North Carolina and Maryland is no less important than kids in strict liability states.
Famous dog bite cases: The Diane Whipple case (People v. Knoller). The Lilian Stiles case (Texas v. Jose Hernandez).
 For more news and opinion: Read the "editorial section" of Dog Bite Law. Hard-hitting and opinionated, it covers the daily news about dogs (from killings of humans, to cruelty, to new and sometimes terrible laws for dog owners), and presents Attorney Kenneth Phillips' brutally incisive opinions about laws, mistakes and moral issues involving dogs.
Taking action:
Suggestions for dealing with a dangerous dog in your neighborhood can be found on the FAQ page of this web site.
Please send Attorney Kenneth Phillips links to pending bills that pertain directly to dog bites, whether on the state or local level.
What's New:
The Dog Bite Law web site is an ongoing project by Attorney Kenneth Phillips. For 10 years, he has revised and expanded the site on a daily basis. Currently undergoing a complete rewrite, some pages look more "modern" than others, but all are up-to-date.
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Dog Bite Litigation Forms
Here are some of the most controversial and important cases and issues in dog bite law. These topics are for students in high school, college or law school who wish to write about dogs and the law.