Utah Dog Bite Laws

The law in Utah places strict liability on dog owners.  Utah Code Annotated Section 18-1-1(1) states; "[e]very person owning or keeping a dog is liable in damages for injury committed by the dog."  The statute clearly places liability for any damages caused by a dog on its owner.  The statute also addresses any defenses that the owner may assert that their dog was not a vicious dog by nature, when it states;

"it is not necessary in the action brought therefor to allege or prove that the dog was of a  vicious or mischievous disposition or the the owner of the dog knew that i t was vicious or mischievous."

Therefore, simply because a dog may typically be a nice or gentle dog is not a defense to liability.  The statute clearly places a burden on dog owners to supervise and monitor their dogs at all times.  This, however, does not provide a free road to recovery for victims to dog bites.  The Utah Courts have also applied comparative fault principles to dog bite claims.  That means that the owner of the dog is only liable for damages relative to his or her percentage of fault.  In other words, if it is determined that a victim provoked a dog or caused the dog to bite as a result of the victim's own negligent or intentional actions, then the victim would likely not recover all of his or her damages from the dog owner.  A court would have to apportion fault to both the dog owner and the victim.  It is important to note that if a dog owner's liability were determined to be less than fifty percent, the victim would be barred from recovery.

The law, however, treats victims different based on their age.  This is important as most dog bite victims happen to be children.  The courts in Utah have held that ordinarily a child under seven years of age is conclusively presumed not guilty of contributory negligence.  As a result, a dog bite victim under seven years of age would more than likely recovery all of her damages under the law.  A child between the ages of seven and fourteen is also generally assumed not to have the same consciousness of danger and the same judgment as an adult, absence a showing to the contrary.  Children over fourteen, however, are generally charged with having attained sufficient development which imposes upon him the same degree of care as an adult, absent a showing to the contrary.  See Nelson v. Arrowhead Freight Lines, 104 P.2d 225 (Utah 1940).  For dog owners, this puts an even greater emphasis on monitoring a dog's actions around young children.

It is also important to point out that this law places liability on every person owning or keeping a dog.  The courts have interpreted the words 'keeping a dog' to apply to any person "exercis[ing] a substantial number of the incidents of ownership."  See Waters v. Powell 232 P.3d 1086, 1087 (Utah App. 2010).  This would include feeding, watering, walking, cleaning the dog.  While exercising only one of these incidents of ownership, in the case of someone merely walking the dog, would not be sufficient to impose liability, multiple incidents likely would.  Practically, this would apply to kennels and/or doggy day care facilities.

As a result of these laws, it is important for dog owners to make sure that they are properly insured for any damages that their dog may cause.  It is important to closely examine the "Personal Liability" provisions of your homeowner's policy to verify that any damages caused by your dog will be covered and that your policy limits are sufficient to cover the damages.  Not only is it important to verify that your insurance will cover damages caused by a dog, you also need to verify that it will cover the specific breed of dog.  Most, if not all, insurance policy will exclude coverage for certain breeds of dogs.  This is important, not only for dog owners, but for dog bite victims.  While it is likely that you may know the owner's of the dog that caused injury, as in many cases it is a dog belonging to a neighbor, friend or family member, it is important to understand that their home owner's insurance will likely be responsible to cover the damages and will not cause the dog owner to pay any damages out of their own pocket.  After all, that is why adequate insurance is so important.

If you have any questions in regards to a dog bite or liability resulting from a dog bite, please give us a call at (435)753-4775.  Or visit us at http://www.ericsonshaw.com