Dog bites in New York and New Jersey.
A dog bite is frightening, and the injuries to children are often facial and permanent. Whether the owner is responsible depends heavily on which state you were in, because New Jersey and New York treat these cases very differently. We handle both.
Get the wound treated, and find out whose dog it was.
Bites carry a real infection risk and should be seen quickly, even when the wound looks small. After that, the single most useful thing you can do is identify the dog and its owner before they are gone.
You won’t get all of this right, and you don’t have to. Do what you can, and we’ll work with what you have.
Get medical care and follow the advice
Get the wound treated and follow through on the course of treatment, including any rabies or tetanus advice. Photograph the injury as it heals — scarring is a large part of a bite claim, and photographs taken over time show what a final scar cannot.
Identify the dog, the owner and the report
The owner’s name, address and phone number. Whether the dog was licensed and vaccinated. Report the bite to animal control or the local health department and get the report number. Take witness details.
Write down exactly what happened
Where you were, whether you were invited, what the dog did before it bit, whether it was restrained, and whether anyone said anything about the dog afterwards. Owners often mention an earlier incident in the moment and then never repeat it.
Most New Jersey injury claims have to be filed within two years, and most New York claims within three. If a city, a state agency or a public authority is involved, formal notice can be due within 90 days. Miss the deadline and the claim is usually gone, however strong it was.
How long you have to bring a claimThis page is general information. It is not medical or legal advice for your situation.
New York and New Jersey handle dog bites differently.
New Jersey: strict liability
New Jersey’s dog bite statute makes an owner liable for a bite in a public place, or where you were lawfully on private property, whether or not the dog had ever bitten anyone before and whether or not the owner knew it might.
New York: what the owner knew
New York generally requires showing that the owner knew, or should have known, that the dog had a tendency to behave dangerously. Earlier complaints, warning signs, muzzling, or the way the dog was kept can all go to that. It is a higher bar, and it is why the dog’s history matters so much.
The circumstances around the attack
Where it happened, whether the dog was leashed or contained, whether a landlord knew about the animal, and whether the owner had been warned before. A bite case often turns on facts from before the day it happened.
Which side of the state line matters more than people expect.
Jim Hunt trained at one of the largest law firms in the world. Our attorneys came from the other side of claims like yours — corporate defense and insurance defense in New York City — and they know where a defense lawyer looks to cut a claim down.
We take on fewer cases than most firms, on purpose. That means you deal with an attorney rather than a case handler, your calls get returned, and the person answering knows your file. We’ll handle the insurer so you don’t have to, and we’ll work on getting your medical bills sorted out while the claim runs. You pay nothing unless we recover money for you.
What happens when you call.
Questions people ask after an injury.
Every situation is different. If yours isn’t here, ask us. There’s no cost to ask.
What should I do straight after a dog bite?
Get the wound treated, identify the owner, and report the bite to animal control or the health department. That report creates an official record of the dog, and if there were earlier incidents it may connect to them.
Does the breed of the dog decide it?
No. Neither state decides these cases on breed. What matters is where it happened, whether you had a right to be there, and — in New York — what the owner knew about the dog.
Why does the state where it happened matter so much?
Because the test is different. In New Jersey an owner is generally liable for a bite whether or not the dog had a history. In New York you usually have to show the owner knew the dog was dangerous. The same facts can produce different outcomes on either side of the line.
If someone else was responsible, these are the losses a claim is meant to put right.
Medical treatment
The care you have already had, and the care the evidence says you are still going to need.
Lost income
Time off work now, and the earnings you lose if you cannot go back to what you did before.
The effect on your life
Pain, the things you can no longer do, and how long that is expected to last. This is the part with no invoice attached, and the part an insurer values lowest.
What any individual claim is worth depends on its own facts, and no one can tell you that from a web page.
Working with Jim was a breeze. He was knowledgeable, thorough, and easy to reach. He was always understanding and compassionate, and he was very transparent as he walked me through the process of filing a claim for a dog bite injury. I am 100% satisfied in the way he represented me.
— Ian K., Google review
Read more client reviewsPrior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstance. Testimonials are reviews left by actual clients on the firm’s public Google profile, in the client’s own words and shortened in places; clients are not compensated for reviews. A testimonial is not a guarantee or prediction about your case. Read our full disclaimer.
Not a dog bite?
If yours is closer to one of these, start there instead.