Liability Insurance For a Injury From an Attack by Dog
As of 2023, five states preclude insurers from denying you coverage based on your dog’s breed:
Dog bites and animal attacks are expensive; thus, liability insurance is key. It helps a dog bite victim be compensated. It’s also helps prevent the dog owner’s assets from being placed at risk.
Why Get Liability Insurance For Your Dog?
Our Pittsburgh lawyers handle dog bite claims every day, seeking money to compensate victims of dog bites. The lack of liability insurance is a double edged sword, harming both the victim of a dog bite (by making it more difficult to get compensated) and for the dog owner — exposing his personal assets to a judgment and garnishment proceedings.
Pennsylvania is a dog-friendly Commonwealth, historically. The law is deceiving. Although liability insurance is required to operate a scooter on a street in PA, no such requirement exists to walk a 180 pound snarling and abused animal down the street. In fact, even though PA’s dog bite law was amended in 2023, for change to take place in January of 2024, the changes do not require dog owners to obtain insurance.
In truth, there is relatively little regulation of dogs in PA until after an attack occurs. Then, it is up to the dog bite victim to pursue his claim against the dog owner to some sort of liability insurance on his behalf, or on behalf of the landlord or anyone else who could be responsible for the dog.
How Many People Actually Carry Liability Insurance for their Dog?
Many have liability insurance for a dog bite without realizing the coverage exists. In other instances, the insurance is available but sadly, no effort is made to obtain coverage until it is too late. Liability insurance purchased after a dog bite is not retroactive to the attack. We’ll talk about (A) homeowner insurance, (B) renter’s insurance, and something called (C) umbrella coverage.
A. Homeowner’s Insurance
First, is it required in Pennsylvania?
No. Owning a dog is not like driving a vehicle, where everyone must have at least $15,000 motor vehicle liability insurance to operate a vehicle.
However, those having a mortgage on their home are required to carry home owner’s insurance — not by the Commonwealth but by the mortgage lender. This is to protect the lender’s security interest in the home. In other words, the mortgage lender does not want to see its borrowers saddled with a judgment. It could threaten foreclosure on the home. Thus, homeowners insurance dramatically reduces the risk of a dog owner’s assets being placed in jeopardy by dangerous propensities of the dog.
With each new dog bite claim we make, we check to the property records. We’re looking to see whether the dog owner has a mortgage. If so, we serve the notice of our claim on both the dog owner and the lender. The ensures ensure it will be turned over to the insurance carrier.
What Homeowner’s Insurance Covers
Homeowner’s insurance covers nearly every costs that could be incurred by the dog owner, except for the dog owner’s time and inconvenience for dealing with the claim. Still, it covers big ticket items: court costs, attorney fees, and all damages caused by the attack, including not only disfigurement, but also lost earning by the victim from his injuries. Often the victim’s dog is also injured during an attack by your animal. There, you have liability for vet or veterinarian bills, plus five figure penalties, if your dog attacks a guide dog or support animal.
Importantly, all dog breeds are covered equally, in Pennsylvania. In fact, as mentioned, PA is so dog friendly that it is illegal for a carrier to charge higher premium based on the breed of the dog. This is in part based on a white paper study by animal rights groups, profiling the “unfair discrimination” against certain breeds.
Attacks on Delivery People
At one time, it was only our guests and the post office coming to our homes, primarily. Today, with the convenience and affordable cost of only shopping for food and consumer goods, there more people than ever coming to our home. Amazon drivers, UPS delivery people, Uber Eats, Door Dash are very popular. Your, as a dog owner, may face significant liability when your dog attacks a delivery person. Putting up a “beware of dog” sign will not help you, as we explain. Get insurance!
Claims For Bites Off The Home Owner’s Property
Homeowner’s insurance typically covers claims for harm caused on and off the home owner’s property. This is in line with a mortgage lender’s desire to protect its borrowers from all claims (not just for stuff happening on the property), to prevent claims from going to judgment — and into foreclosure. A dog owner, therefore, is typically covered by his home owner’s insurance for a bite that happens several streets — or even miles — away from the insured property. In fact, home owner’s insurance can even cover dog bites that occur in the sky on flights.
UPDATE: Amount of Homeowner’s Coverage Needed Today (2023)
Pennsylvania ranks in the top seven states nationally for both the amount and cost of dog bite claims, having an average cost per claim of $47,353.
|
At one point, we recommended $100,000 in liability coverage, as adequate, but our Pittsburgh lawyers now believe otherwise. Many of our recent dog bite claims have exceeded 100K in value. This is true today, even counties where juries tend to be more stingy: Allegheny County, Beaver, and Butler Counties.
We would therefore recommend every dog owner have at least $200,000 in liability coverage, regardless of breed. Even a small dog can do significant and permanent disfigurement to a child’s face.
B. Renter’s Insurance
Renter’s insurance is fairly inexpensive. Here is how the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance describes renter’s insurance on its website:
Renters’ insurance is fairly inexpensive, and most policies range from $15 to $30 per month. Many companies will allow you to bundle your renters’ insurance with other policies, like your auto insurance, making it less expensive. In the end, you’ll be glad you have it.
All of the above information applies equally to renter insurance coverage: the dog owner should have at least $200,000 in coverage, but there is one exception. Renter’s insurance often limited to attacks on the rented property. This is because, unlike mortgage situation, there’s no lender and no security interest in the property when a party rents. That said, the landlord may have coverage.
Each Pittsburgh attorney with us has successful in getting renter’s insurance to pay, by focusing on the condition of the property that caused a dog to escape from it. For example, if the rental property fence is defective in some way (height or a faulty latch), arguably the “incident” — the dog escaping the property — occurred on the insured premises, even attacks occurred several blocks away. Still, this only applies in escape cases. This does not apply to attacks that occur when the renter is walking his dog on the sidewalk away from rented property.
What other liability coverage could exist for a dog bite?
C. Umbrella Coverage
Umbrella coverage is a necessity for anyone who lacks homeowner’s insurance because it can cover any harm that you — or your dog — cause in daily living, anywhere. It covers claims not covered by home owner’s, renters, or motor vehicle liability coverage.
What if, for example, your dog escapes the confinement of your parked car? You cannot assume your motor vehicle insurance will cover the claim, because it is not necessarily related to your operation of a motor vehicle. Umbrella coverage eliminates many ambiguities. With uncertainty comes potential legal coverage issues. This can cost time or money. Many lawyers will charge an hourly fee, for example, to bring an action to determine what coverage should apply. Having an umbrella policy — specifically for dog bite claims — will likely save lots of time and money over the long run.
Cost of Umbrella Coverage
Umbrella coverage is relatively cheap. It costs approximately $150 to $350 a year for the first $1 million of coverage and about $100 per million of additional coverage. The source for this is In other words, it costs at most hundreds per year — not thousands — for coverage of a claim having an average value in Pennsylvania is $47,353. This makes it a no-brainer recommendation for these Pittsburgh attorneys.
Bad Faith Insurance Practices – Failure to Tender Limits
Having at least some liability coverage gives you great leverage, in terms of settlement, because your insurance carrier has a duty to defend you, no matter what. So even if your insurance is inadequate to compensate the dog bite victim for the claims against you, your insurance company will pay for your defense. Further, you can sue your insurance carrier for “bad faith,” if it fails to defend you or refuses to tender policy limits in a timely manner. Click here for more.
Free Consultation For Dog Bite Claims in Pennsylvania
Call our Pittsburgh Dog Bite attorneys any time you have a question about a claim or defense to any animal attack injury in Western Pennsylvania.
New Number! 412.400.5476
Or use our Contact Form