Many dog bite victims sustain injuries when attempting to shield their own dog from another canine that’s attacking. In Pennsylvania, the human victim of a dog bite can recover money for her own disfigurement, emotional distress, and lost wages. A recovery can also be had for injuries to her dog in the attack, but there are limitations. This blog will focus on: (1) the type of damages one can seek for a bite to (or destruction of) his pet, (2) liability (both civil and criminal) for deadly or disfiguring attacks on guide dogs for the deaf, blind, or physically disabled.
1. Damages Recoverable When Your Dog is Attacked
A. Veterinarian Bills (or Vet Bills)
As the law stands in Pennsylvania, dogs are considered “chattel” — lawyer-talk for “property.” As such, currently, there exists no claim for a dog’s pain and suffering in PA. For this, see Daughen v. Fox, 539 A.2d 858, 372 Pa. Superior Ct. 405 (1988). Rather, a dog’s value is measured purely in terms of economics: what is the dog’s dollar value? In Pennsylvania, your property damage claim equals the lesser of two things: the cost to fix the property versus the cost to replace it. So, in other words, if someone damages your $20,000 used Subaru in a manner that it would cost $40,000 to fix it, then claim is limited to the $20,000 replacement cost.
The same applies in regard to dogs, unfortunately. (Note that guide dogs are treated differently, below). Thus, your expensive vet bills are not something for which you can be compensated. The exceptions is, your dog is financially expensive to replace, such as a pure breed. That said, our firm has been successful getting dogs appraised for a significant value, if the dog is a purebred. Otherwise, to be fully compensated for the attack, you must look beyond your own dog for other items of recovery, discussed below.
B. Damages to Yourself
You, as animal attack survivor, can recover money damages for your own physical injuries and from an attack. (This assumes liability exists on the part of the dog owner or landlord.) For your own injuries you can recover various items of damages. These may include pain, suffering, disfigurement (scaring), lost wages, lost earning capacity, emotional distress, and medical bills.
C. Your Emotional Distress From Seeing Your Dog Being Attacked
The law in Pennsylvania allows you to recover money for emotional distress from witnessing a close family member — i.e., a human family member — being attacked by a dog. No such claims exists in regard to attacks on dogs, however. That said, again, your own injuries sustained when separating the dogs (and your emotional distress from it) are certainly compensable.
D. Loss of Companionship From Your Dog
Your dog may have been severely injured or killed by another dog; however, once again, humans are treated differently from dogs. Regarding humans, Pennsylvania recognizes a claim for loss of consortium (loss of comfort and companionship) for the spouse of a person injured by a dog. Hopkins v. BLANCO et al., 457 Pa. 90, 320 A.2d 139, 320 A.3d 139 (1974). However, no such claims exists for the loss of companionship from your dog. This is true, even though we all know that dogs provide lots of support and companionship. For now, Pennsylvania does not (yet) recognize a person’s claim for the loss of comfort and support from a dog injured or killed by another dog.
2. Special Treatment of Guide Dogs or Support Animals
In Pennsylvania, there exists special criminal and civil liability — including steep fines — for attacks on guide dogs for the vision impaired (blind), hearing impaired (deaf), or physically limited (once called handicapped). See 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 5535.
A. Criminal Penalties
The law provides harsh penalties, but only where the owner of the attacking dog knew or should have known of his canine’s dangerous propensities. § 5535 provides as follows:
§ 5535. Attack of service, guide or support dog
(a) Offense defined.–A person commits a misdemeanor of the third degree if the person is the owner of a dog that kills, maims or disfigures a service, guide or support dog of an individual with a disability without provocation by the service, guide or support dog or the individual.
(b) Culpability.–A person commits an offense under this section only if the person:
(1) knew or should have known that the dog the person owns had a propensity to attack human beings or domestic animals without provocation; and
(2) knowingly or recklessly failed to restrain the dog or keep the dog in a contained, secure manner.
(c) Penalty.–A person convicted of violating this section shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $5,000 and shall be ordered to make reparations for veterinary costs in treating the service, guide or support dog and, if necessary, the cost of obtaining and training a replacement service, guide or support dog.
B. Civil Penalties
Here, the above criminal statute provides for harsh penalties through both the criminal court — and civil court — system, as follows:
(a.2) Civil penalty and restitution.–
(1) A person who is the owner or co-owner of a dog that kills, maims or disfigures a guide dog of an individual who is blind, a hearing dog of an individual who is deaf or audibly impaired or a service dog of an individual who is physically limited shall be subject to paragraph (2) if all of the following apply:
(i) The owner or co-owner knew the dog had a propensity to attack human beings or domestic animals.
(ii) The owner or co-owner failed to restrain the dog or keep the dog in a contained, secure manner.
(2) A court of common pleas may impose any of the following upon any person who is the owner or co-owner of a dog under paragraph (1):
(i) A civil penalty of up to $15,000.
(ii) Reparations for veterinary costs in treating the guide, hearing or service dog and, if necessary, the cost of retraining the dog or of obtaining and training a replacement guide, hearing or service dog.
(iii) Loss of income for the time the individual is unable to work due to the unavailability of the guide, hearing or service dog.
18 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 5535
Here, the above is important because the the victim of an animal attack need not depend on the dog warden or district attorney to prosecute a dog bite. Rather, the victim can seek civil penalties of of up to $15,000 through her own civil action, via a Pittsburgh attorney (civil) in these matters.
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Contact a Pittsburgh lawyer at our firm for any dog bite and animal attack cases where dogs are killed or injured. Our skilled advocates can navigate all injury law issues.