New York Dog Bite Law

How dog bite liability works in New York

For almost twenty years New York was one of the hardest states in which to win a dog bite case. In Bard v. Jahnke (2006) the Court of Appeals held that the owner of a domestic animal could not be sued for negligence at all, so a bitten person had to prove the owner knew the dog was vicious. Flanders v. Goodfellow, 44 N.Y.3d 57 (2025), a unanimous decision about a postal carrier bitten on a porch in Onondaga County, overruled Bard on that point. A plaintiff may now plead strict liability, negligence, or both².

The knowledge rule itself is broad. A "vicious propensity" includes any behavior that reflects a proclivity to put others at risk; in Flanders, growling, snarling, slamming into windows and trying to bite carriers through the glass was enough to send the strict-liability claim to a jury².

New York has no general dog bite statute. Agriculture and Markets Law § 123 is mainly a dangerous-dog procedure, and its civil rule is narrow: the owner or lawful custodian of a dog already found dangerous is strictly liable for the medical costs its attacks cause¹. That is why this site classes New York as partial, not strict, despite what some law-firm pages say. Section 123 also states that it does not limit common-law claims¹.

Your own fault reduces an award but never bars it: CPLR 1411 is a pure comparative-fault rule for dog bites, even after a 2026 amendment created a bar for some motor-vehicle cases⁵. Compare New Jersey and Connecticut, or see the national table.

The New York dog bite statute

The owner or lawful custodian of a dog that a judge has already found to be a "dangerous dog" is strictly liable for the medical costs of any injury the dog causes to a person or to a companion, farm or domestic animal¹. The rule does not apply when the dog's conduct was justified (for example, the victim was committing a crime against the owner or tormenting the dog) or when the dog was defending a person against a listed violent felony on the owner's property¹. Pain and suffering, lost wages and other losses still have to be recovered under the common law, which § 123(12) expressly preserves¹.

• Law: N.Y. Agric. & Mkts. Law § 123(10) (Dangerous dogs (Agriculture and Markets Law § 123)); last changed 2024: the Senate's text shows a September 2024 revision; subdivision 11 now refers to the redefined Penal Law rape offenses
• Injuries covered: Any injury the dog causes (bites, knock-downs, chases)
• Where: Anywhere
• Who is liable: The owner, or a keeper or harborer
• Damages: Economic (out-of-pocket) damages only

Other ways to prove liability

New York uses what Flanders v. Goodfellow calls a two-pronged approach². Under the first prong, an owner who knew or should have known of the dog's vicious propensities is strictly liable for harm caused by them; prior bites are not required, and growling, snapping, baring teeth or similar behavior can show constructive knowledge²¹⁰. Under the second prong, restored in April 2025, the plaintiff can prove that the owner failed to exercise due care under the circumstances². The Court of Appeals had already allowed negligence claims against non-owners such as veterinary clinics in Hewitt v. Palmer Veterinary Clinic (2020), as Flanders recounts². Flanders does not mention leash ordinances, so how a leash-law violation fits into the new negligence claim is left to later cases.

Defenses owners raise

Provocation

Section 123(4) treats a dog's conduct as justified if the injured person was tormenting, abusing, assaulting or threatening the dog or its puppies, now or in the past, or if the dog was responding to pain or protecting itself or its household. Justified conduct defeats both a dangerous-dog finding and the strict liability for medical costs¹. In a common-law case, provocation is argued as the victim's culpable conduct, which reduces damages under CPLR 1411⁵.

Committing a crime

No dangerous-dog finding or § 123 liability arises if the victim was committing a crime or offense against the owner or the owner's property, or if the dog injured someone committing murder, robbery, burglary, arson, first-degree rape or kidnapping in the owner's home or on the owner's land¹.

Police dogs

A police work dog that attacks while helping officers perform their official duties is excluded from the definition of a "dangerous dog"⁸. That exclusion covers the dangerous-dog statute; it does not decide a civil claim against the police agency.

Assumption of risk

Under CPLR 1411, assumption of risk is part of the claimant's culpable conduct and does not bar recovery; it reduces damages in proportion to the claimant's share of fault⁵.

Other defense

Lack of knowledge is the classic defense to the strict-liability claim: without proof that the owner knew or should have known of a vicious propensity, that claim fails. Since Flanders it no longer defeats a negligence claim based on the owner's failure to use due care².

Shared fault

Pure comparative fault (N.Y. CPLR 1411).

Under CPLR 1411(a), the injured person's culpable conduct, including contributory negligence or assumption of risk, does not bar recovery; damages are reduced by the injured person's percentage of fault⁵. A 2026 amendment, CPLR 1411(b), bars a claimant who is more at fault than the defendants, but only in personal-injury actions subject to Insurance Law article 51, the motor-vehicle no-fault law; dog bite claims stay under the pure rule⁵. Section 1411 by its terms covers any personal-injury action. No New York appellate decision we opened says whether it reduces a strict-liability vicious-propensity award.

How the five fault systems compare: provocation, trespass and shared fault.

New York dog bite statute of limitations

3 years (N.Y. CPLR 214(5))

A personal-injury action must be started within three years; a claim for damage to property, such as a pet injured in the attack, also has three years³. If the dog belonged to a city, county, town or village (a police dog, a municipal shelter dog), a notice of claim is due within 90 days and the lawsuit within one year and 90 days of the bite⁶⁷.

Children. If the bitten person was under 18, CPLR 208(a) extends the time to three years after the 18th birthday, so suit can be filed until the child turns 21; the ten-year outer limit in § 208 does not apply to infancy⁴.

Work out your own date with the dog bite claim checker, or compare deadlines in every state.

Damages

A common-law claim seeks ordinary personal-injury damages, such as medical expenses, lost earnings and pain and suffering; § 123 itself refers to "unreimbursed medical expenses, lost earnings and other damages"¹. Statutory strict liability under § 123(10) covers only medical costs, including veterinary costs when the dog injures a companion, farm or domestic animal¹. The civil penalty a court can impose on a negligent owner (up to $400, or $1,500 for serious physical injury) goes to the government, not to you, but the $1,500 penalty can be reduced by restitution the owner pays the victim¹. Any award is reduced by your share of fault⁵.

Landlords and property owners

A landlord is not liable just because a tenant keeps a dog. In Castillo v. Berne (2d Dep't 2024), the Appellate Division restated the test: the injured person must show that the landlord knew a dog was kept on the premises, knew or should have known it had vicious propensities, and had enough control of the premises to remove or confine it¹⁰. The court held that the dog's breed alone did not show the landlord should have known, and that a negligence claim against a landlord without that knowledge also fails, citing Strunk v. Zoltanski, 62 N.Y.2d 572 (1984)¹⁰. Flanders reopened negligence claims against owners; it did not address landlords². See landlord liability.

Insurance

Insurance Law § 3421 bars homeowners' insurers from refusing, cancelling, not renewing, surcharging or limiting coverage based solely on the breed or breed mix of a dog the policyholder owns or harbors¹³. An insurer may still act on a dangerous-dog designation under § 123 if sound underwriting supports it¹³. A court that declares a dog dangerous can also order the owner to carry liability insurance of up to $100,000¹.

New York ranked #7 in the United States for dog-related homeowners insurance claims in 2025: 1,308 claims with an average cost of $92,154 (national average $65,450), according to the Insurance Information Institute and State Farm. These are insurer payouts, not court awards.

More on coverage, breed exclusions and renters policies: dog bite insurance.

Flanders v. Goodfellow (2025): negligence claims are back

From 2006 to 2025, New York owners could not be sued for negligence over a dog bite. Bard v. Jahnke involved a breeding bull, but later decisions applied it to dogs, and in Doerr v. Goldsmith (2015) the Court of Appeals refused to treat a loose dog like a wandering farm animal². Courts kept carving out exceptions, for wandering livestock in Hastings v. Sauve (2013) and for veterinary clinics in Hewitt v. Palmer Veterinary Clinic (2020)².

On April 17, 2025, a unanimous Court of Appeals overruled Bard "to the extent that it bars negligence liability for harm caused by domestic animals"². The court found the rule in tension with ordinary tort principles, unworkable and sometimes unfair, and noted it gave owners little reason to learn their animals' tendencies². Lower-court decisions from before April 2025 that dismiss negligence claims against owners, including Castillo v. Berne (2024), no longer state the law on that point²¹⁰.

Bite reports and quarantine

The State Sanitary Code requires every health care provider to report immediately to the local health authority any person exposed to an animal suspected of rabies; when no provider is involved, a parent reports for a child and an adult reports for themselves¹¹. The Department of Health asks people to report all animal bites to the county health department, even when unsure about rabies¹². Public Health Law §§ 2140 to 2145 do not apply in New York City¹⁵.

When a dog, cat or ferret has bitten a person, the local health authority may order it confined for 10 days, whether or not it is vaccinated, under conditions it sets and under the control of persons it chooses, which can include the owner¹¹. The owner pays the confinement costs¹¹. With the owner's consent, the health authority can instead have the animal euthanized and tested; if the dog shows signs of rabies during the 10 days, it is euthanized and tested¹¹.

Dangerous-dog hearings, euthanasia orders and criminal penalties are covered on New York dangerous dog law.

Questions about New York dog bite law

Is New York a one-bite state?

Not after April 2025. The owner is strictly liable if they knew or should have known the dog had vicious propensities, and that knowledge can come from growling, snapping or lunging, not only a prior bite². Since Flanders v. Goodfellow, you can also sue for ordinary negligence without proving any prior behavior².

Does a dangerous-dog finding help my civil claim?

It depends on timing. If the dog had already been declared dangerous before it bit you, the owner is strictly liable for your medical costs under § 123(10)¹. If not, you rely on the common-law claims; facts proven at a dangerous-dog hearing, such as earlier attacks, can also show the owner knew of a vicious propensity¹².

My dog bit someone in New York. Will it be put down?

Not automatically. The usual first step is a 10-day confinement ordered by the health authority¹¹. A court can order euthanasia only after finding the dog dangerous and finding an aggravating circumstance, such as an unjustified attack causing serious physical injury, and the order is stayed while an appeal is possible¹. See my dog bit someone.

Can I sue if the dog bit me while I was delivering mail or packages?

Yes. Flanders itself was a postal carrier's case: the court let both the strict-liability and the negligence claims go to trial². For how claims work when a bite happens on the job, see dog bites at work.

Can my homeowners' insurer drop me because of my dog's breed?

No. Insurance Law § 3421 forbids refusing, cancelling, not renewing or surcharging a homeowners' policy based solely on a dog's breed¹³. An insurer may act if a court has declared the dog dangerous¹³.

Official contacts

Sources

1. N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law § 123 (Dangerous dogs), New York State Senate. Checked 17 October 2026.
2. Flanders v Goodfellow, 44 NY3d 57, 2025 NY Slip Op 02261 (Apr. 17, 2025), New York State Law Reporting Bureau. Checked 17 October 2026.
3. N.Y. Civil Practice Law and Rules 214, New York State Senate. Checked 17 October 2026.
4. N.Y. Civil Practice Law and Rules 208, New York State Senate. Checked 17 October 2026.
5. N.Y. Civil Practice Law and Rules 1411 (as amended May 2026), New York State Senate. Checked 17 October 2026.
6. N.Y. General Municipal Law § 50-e, New York State Senate. Checked 17 October 2026.
7. N.Y. General Municipal Law § 50-i, New York State Senate. Checked 17 October 2026.
8. N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law § 108 (Definitions), New York State Senate. Checked 17 October 2026.
9. N.Y. Agriculture and Markets Law § 107 (Application), New York State Senate. Checked 17 October 2026.
10. Castillo v Berne, 2024 NY Slip Op 04191 (2d Dep't Aug. 14, 2024), New York State Law Reporting Bureau. Checked 17 October 2026.
11. State Sanitary Code, 10 NYCRR § 2.14 (rabies reporting and confinement), New York State Department of Health. Checked 17 October 2026.
12. Rabies: What to Know, New York State Department of Health. Checked 17 October 2026.
13. N.Y. Insurance Law § 3421 (Homeowners' liability insurance; dogs), New York State Senate. Checked 17 October 2026.
14. Companion Animals, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Checked 17 October 2026.
15. N.Y. Public Health Law § 2146 (City of New York; exceptions), New York State Senate. Checked 17 October 2026.
16. N.Y. Public Health Law § 2141 (Compulsory vaccination), New York State Senate. Checked 17 October 2026.