California Dog Bite Lawyer: Civil Code 3342, Deadlines and Who Pays (Updated November 2026)

By Michael Shemtoub, trial attorney, Beverly Law. Updated November 2026.

What to do after a dog bite in California

1. Get medical care the same day. Dog bites puncture deep and get infected. The CDC says nearly 1 in 5 people bitten by a dog needs medical attention (CDC). Tell the doctor whether the dog’s rabies vaccination is known.
2. Identify the dog and the owner. Get the owner’s name, address and phone number, and the address where the dog lives. If the owner rents, write down the building and the landlord or property manager.
3. Report the bite. California’s rabies rule requires reports to the local health officer, and the California Department of Public Health says all bites from mammals must be reported, whether or not rabies is suspected (CDPH; 17 CCR § 2606). In practice you call city or county animal control.
4. Know what happens to the dog. Under the same rule, a dog that bit someone can be isolated and observed for 10 days, in a pound, veterinary hospital or other place the health officer approves (17 CCR § 2606).
5. Photograph everything. Every wound on the day of the bite and as it heals, torn clothing, the place it happened, a broken gate or a missing leash.
6. Do not give a recorded statement to the owner’s insurance company before you talk to a lawyer. Our page on evidence in a dog bite case lists what to keep.

California’s dog bite statute: Civil Code 3342

California is a strict liability state for dog bites. The owner of a dog is liable for the damages suffered by anyone the dog bites, “regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner’s knowledge of such viciousness” (Civ. Code § 3342(a)). There is no “one free bite.” You do not have to prove the owner was careless.

The statute has limits:

• Where you were. It covers bites in a public place or while you were lawfully on private property, including the owner’s. You are there lawfully when you are performing a legal duty, such as delivering mail, or are on the property with the owner’s express or implied invitation (§ 3342(a)).
• A bite. The statute covers bites. A bite counts even if the skin was not broken (Johnson v. McMahan (1998) 68 Cal.App.4th 173). Injuries from a dog that knocked you down without biting are usually brought as negligence claims instead.
• The owner. Section 3342 makes the owner liable. Claims against a dog sitter, a relative watching the dog or a landlord rest on other rules, covered below.

The Judicial Council’s jury instruction lists what a jury must find: the defendant owned the dog, it bit you in a public place or while you were lawfully on private property, you were harmed, and the dog was a substantial factor in causing the harm (CACI No. 463). Our California dog bite law guide covers the statute in more detail.

Who else can be responsible

Landlords. A landlord does not answer for a tenant’s dog just by owning the building. In Uccello v. Laudenslayer (1975) 44 Cal.App.3d 504, a German Shepherd kept by a tenant attacked a five-year-old girl. The Court of Appeal held that a landlord owes a duty of care when the landlord has actual knowledge of the dog and its dangerous propensities, together with the right to have the dog removed, such as the power to end a month-to-month tenancy. Constructive knowledge is not enough, and the landlord has no duty to inspect for dangerous dogs (Uccello). Neighbor complaints and earlier bite reports are how that knowledge is proven.

A second claim when the owner knew. Apart from the statute, California courts recognize a common-law claim when the owner knew or should have known of the dog’s vicious propensities. In Priebe v. Nelson (2006) 39 Cal.4th 1112, the California Supreme Court allowed that claim to go forward even where the statutory claim was barred (Priebe).

Police dogs and government agencies. The strict liability rule in section 3342 cannot be used against a government agency whose police or military dog bit you while defending itself from a provoking act or while helping an officer catch or hold a suspect, investigate a crime, execute a warrant or defend someone. That protection does not apply if you were not a party to or a participant in the act that prompted the dog’s use, and it applies only if the agency has a written policy on the use of its dogs (§ 3342(b)-(d)). Any injury claim against a city, county or state agency must first be presented to the agency within six months (Gov. Code § 911.2).

Repeat biters and criminal cases. If a dog has bitten people on two separate occasions, any person, the district attorney or the city attorney can sue in the county where a bite happened, and the court can order the dog removed from the area or, if necessary, destroyed. These are limited civil cases (Civ. Code § 3342.5). An owner who knows of an animal’s dangerous propensity and lets it run loose or keeps it without ordinary care can be prosecuted if it kills or seriously injures someone (Penal Code § 399).

Defenses the owner will raise

• Your own fault. The Court of Appeal has said the defenses of assumption of the risk and contributory negligence may still be raised against a section 3342 claim (Johnson v. McMahan). Under California’s pure comparative fault rule, your share of fault reduces your award and does not bar it (Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804). Teasing or cornering the dog is the usual argument.
• Kennel workers. Under what the court called the veterinarian’s rule, a kennel worker bitten by a dog boarded at a commercial kennel assumed that risk as part of the job, so the statute does not apply (Priebe v. Nelson). The common-law claim can survive if the owner knew or should have known the dog was vicious and did not tell the worker.
• You were not lawfully there. The statute covers only people in a public place or lawfully on private property (§ 3342(a)).

Our page on comparative fault in California, Texas and Washington explains how a percentage of fault changes the numbers.

Insurance and how claims get paid

Most dog bite claims are paid by the owner’s homeowner’s or renter’s insurance. Triple-I says those policies typically cover dog-bite liability up to the policy limit, usually $100,000 to $300,000 (Triple-I). If the owner’s limit is lower than your losses, see our page on policy limits.

California is one of the top states for these claims. Triple-I and State Farm reported that insurers paid $1.86 billion on 28,450 dog-bite and related injury claims nationwide in 2025, an average of $65,450 per claim. California and Florida each had more than 2,000 claims, and California had the third-highest average cost per claim, behind New York and Connecticut (Triple-I, April 2026). What a particular claim is worth depends on the injury, scarring and treatment; our page on dog bite claim value goes through it.

Dog bites in California: the numbers

• Californians made 48,596 emergency room visits for dog bites in 2022, the most in at least 18 years, according to state Department of Health Care Access and Information data analyzed by KFF Health News. That is 125 visits per 100,000 residents, about 70% higher than the 2005 rate, and the hospitalization rate roughly doubled from 2006 through 2022 (KFF Health News).
• California had more dog attacks on postal employees than any other state in 2025, with 673. Los Angeles led all U.S. cities with 70. San Diego (32), Oakland (27), Sacramento (21), Long Beach (20) and San Francisco (16) were also on the list (U.S. Postal Service, May 28, 2026).
• The CDC says children are more likely than adults to be bitten, and their injuries tend to be more severe (CDC).

We take cases throughout the state, including Los Angeles and Santa Ana. See our California locations.

Deadlines and the rules in all three states

In California you have two years to file a personal injury lawsuit (CCP § 335.1). For a child, the time while the child is a minor generally does not count against that period, but that extension does not apply to claims against public entities (CCP § 352). The six-month government claim deadline still applies (Gov. Code § 911.2). If a dog attack killed a family member, see our page on the California wrongful death deadline.

Related pages

• Texas dog bite lawyer
• Washington dog bite lawyer
• California dog bite law guide
• How much is a dog bite claim worth?
• Evidence in a dog bite case
• How pain and suffering is calculated

Common questions

Important: This page is general information, not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different; talk to a lawyer about yours. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou. Last reviewed: November 6, 2026.