Overview
 When a person is bitten by a dog, the dog bite statute of Rhode
Island provides for strict liability unless the dog was confined. It also mandates that, if attacked by a dog that previously
came within the state law, the victim is entitled to double damages.
The Rhode Island
Supreme Court summarized the state's dog bite statute in just 10 words:
"strict liability attaches for any injury occurring outside the
dog's enclosure." Johnston
v. Poulin, 844 A.2d 707 (Rhode Is. Sup. Ct., 2004).
Here is the text of the statute:
§
4-13-16 Action for damages to animals – Double damages on second
recovery – Destruction of offending dog. – If any dog kills, wounds, worries,
or assists in killing, wounding or worrying, any sheep, lamb, cattle, horse,
hog, swine, fowl, or other domestic animal belonging to or in the possession
of any person, or assaults, bites, or otherwise injures any person while
traveling the highway or out of the enclosure of the owner or keeper of
that dog, the owner or keeper of the dog shall be liable to the person
aggrieved, for all damage sustained, to be recovered in a civil action,
with costs of suit. If afterwards any such damage is done by that dog,
the owner or keeper of the dog shall pay to the party aggrieved double
the damage, to be recovered in the manner set forth and an order shall
be made by the court before whom that second recovery is made, for killing
the dog. The order shall be executed by the officer charged with the execution
of the order, and it shall not be necessary, in order to sustain this action,
to prove that the owner or keeper of the dog knew that the dog was accustomed
to causing this damage.
The strict liability
of the dog-bite statute is predicated on the location of the dog at
the time of injury. It has been established that "the clause 'while
traveling on the highway or out of the enclosure of the owner or keeper
of such dog' modifies the word 'person' and not the word 'dog.' "
Wilbur v. Gross, 55 R.I. 473, 478, 182 A. 597, 599 (1936). "Therefore,
the dog-bite statute imposes strict liability in any circumstance wherein
the dog is outside of its owner's enclosure." Johnston v. Poulin,
844 A.2d 707 (Rhode Isl. Sup. Ct., 2004).
The dog bite has the following features:
- It applies
not only to owners but to anyone who is a "keeper" of the
dog.
- Any injury brings
the incident within the coverage of the law, whether or not a bite.
- The victim can
be a human, a dog or other domestic animal, or a sheep,
lamb, cattle, horse, hog, swine or fowl.
- After
the first bite, a dog owner or keeper is liable for double damages
if and when the same dog attacks again.
When the statute does not apply, a dog owner, harborer or keeper still can be responsible for being negligent or breaking a law, such as a leash law, or for intentional conduct that causes the dog to bite. For details, see Legal Rights of Dog Bite Victims in the USA.
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