Articles Posted in Dog Bites

What does a normal dog do in Chicago?

A normal Chicago dog

The Chicago personal injuries attorneys of Zneimer & Zneimer follow all published court decisions discussing the Animal Control Act because we have many dog bite injuries victims.  Under the Illinois Animal Control Act, one can recover damages for personal injuries from a dog attack only if the dog acted out without provocation. Provocation is measured through the eyes of a “reasonable dog” and the question is whether a normal dog would have attacked the plaintiff.  Kirkham v. Will, 311 Ill. App. 3d 787 (2nd Dist. 2003).  It does not matter whether a person believes that their behavior was not provocative.  The question is whether a normal dog would find such conduct provocative.   In the end, humans decide what a normal dog’s reaction would be, and thus the question is whether a reasonable person should know that a normal dog would react to the precipitating event.

The burden to prove lack of provocation is on the dog bite victim. The law does not distinguish between intentional or unintentional provocation: unintentional provocation can provoke a dog.

For example, in one dog bite case, a child accidentally stepped on the tail of the dog.  The court decided that the child provoked the dog.  Nelson v. Lewis, 36 Ill. App. 3d 130 (1976).  The law does not give carte blanche to the dog whenever a normal dog is provoked.  The dog is Continue reading

The Chicago personal injury attorneys at Zneimer & Zneimer often meet with people who had suffered severe dog bite injuries from a dog that lives in a rental place.  Many times a dog had jumped over a low fence or squeezed through a broken door and attacked a passerby. Although blameless for the dog attack, injury victims often find themselves dealing with a dog owner who has neither insurance nor money to pay for the injured person’s mountain of medical bills, disfigurement, pain, lost wages.  In our experience it is rare for a renter to have liability insurance, and most renters do not enjoy wealth sufficient enough to compensate their dog’s victim.

The question then is whether a landlord, a roommate, a property manager can be held responsible when a renter’s dog jumps onto the street because the property was insufficiently secure.  Their liability will depend on the facts.

The Animal Care Act imposes penalties against both the owner of the animal and anyone who places themselves in a position of control akin to an owner.  Under Illinois law merely permitting a dog to be on the rented property is insufficient to establish ownership pursuant to the Act. If a landlord, a roommate, or a property manager cares for the dog, feeds the dog, or otherwise controls the dog at the time of the attack, it is possible to attach liability to them as “owners” under the definition of the Act and reach any insurance they have.  They must be harboring or keeping the animal, which amounts to undertaking to manage, control, or care for the dog as dog owners, in general, are accustomed to doing. Therefore, it is very important to document the instances when third parties cared for the dog because such instances may provide enough support to attach liability. However, if they cannot be held as owners, they cannot be held responsible under the Animal Care Act.

Can they be held liable under a negligence theory if they knew that the dog lived on the property if they knew that the fence was too low or the door insecure, and they had a duty to maintain their property in a reasonably safe condition?  Continue reading

In October 2015, a 45-pound dog named Chelsea bit a mailman. “Walking” in a normal dog’s paws, the Illinois Appellate Court determined that the mailman’s action could have provoked Chelsea to bite him, and therefore the mailman could not recover damages from Chelsea’s owners for the dog bite.

The mailman, Mr. Claffey, was delivering the mail in Glencoe, Illinois, when his job brought him to the Huntleys’ home. The Huntleys’ front door had a mail slot and two flaps, one on the outside and one on the inside of the door. A spring kept the inside flap shut. Trying to ensure that the inside flat will not damage the mail, Mr. Claffey stuck his right hand through the mail slot, lifted the inner flap, and used the left hand to insert the mail.

In addition to a mailbox with two flaps, the Huntleys had two dogs, one of which was Chelsea. Prior to sticking his hand through the mail slot, Mr. Claffey knew that the home had dogs, and heard dogs barking before he placed his hand in the mail slot. The mailman’s mailbox activity caught Chelsea’s attention, and the dog sprung into action, and bit the mailman’s right hand. Mr. Claffey managed to pull his hand away from Chelsea’s jaws, but the top of his hand was ripped and painful. Mr. Claffey sued the Huntleys for the dog bite for damages under the Illinois Animal Control Act.

The Illinois Animal Control imposes liability on animal owners if the injured person demonstrates that he or she (1) suffered injuries from the animal; (2) was at a place where he or she had the lawful right to be; (3) conducted himself or herself peaceably; (4) and the attack was without provocation.  The statute reads as follows:

If a dog or other animal, without provocation, attacks, attempts to attack, or injures any person who is peaceably conducting himself in any place where he or she may lawfully be, the owner of such dog or other animal is liable in civil damages to such person for the full amount of the injury proximately caused thereby.

510 ILCS 5/16. Continue reading

The Chicago dog bite lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer, receive many calls from personal injury victims of a dog bite. According to the CDC, over 36% of households in the United States own at least one dog.  While dogs can be close friends, sometimes this best friend will bite.  Dog bites often cause painful deep wounds, nerve damages or infection. Children become victims of dog bite more often than adults, and the injuries are more severe. The majority of the injuries occur at home with familiar dogs. As the number of dogs in a household increases, so does the likelihood of being bitten.  According to the CDC, adults “with two or more dogs in the household are five times more likely to be bitten than those living without dogs at home. Among adults, men are more likely than women to be bitten by a dog.”

The American Veterinary Medical Association reports that in 2017 approximately 350,000 people treated at hospital emergency rooms for non-fatal dog-related injuries. Of them approximately 10,600 were children two years old or younger.
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Dog bites are unexpected, devastating, and sometimes deadly. As increasing numbers of Americans welcome canines into their homes, it is crucial to be educated about breeds and aware of the risks that may come with ownership. Pit bulls in particular have a longstanding reputation as an aggressive breed, dominating headlines about dog bite injuries that happen across the U.S.

The latest statistical information compiled by DogsBite.org reveal the grim reality behind the most fatal attacks. Between 2005 and 2018, pit bulls killed 311 people. In 2018 alone, pit bulls accounted for 72% of deaths caused by dogs in the United States. Put another way, pit bulls were the cause of 26 out of 36 total dog bite deaths.  Both adults and children are at risk for injury, with 42% of victims being children and 58% adults. Of the 26 attacks, 22 happened on the dog owner’s property. This illustrates the risks of not only owning pit bulls, but even visiting those who own them.   The dog bite lawyers of Zneimer & Zneimer P.C. note that the vast majority of their dog bite cases involve pit bulls.

The costs of a dog bite does not end with medical treatment, either. Complications like infection can arise from the injuries. Facial and reconstructive surgery, not to mention therapy, can quickly add up as additional expenses. The American Society for Plastic Surgeons reported over 28,000 reconstructive procedures done for dog bites in 2015. The Animal Control Act in Illinois places full liability on the owner of the dog; However, reaching a settlement can take months or years, depending on the severity of the injuries.

The Chicago dog bite attorneys at Zneimer & Zneimer handle numerous dog bite cases, and have seen many cases where the bite was  not solely the dog’s fault.   Dogs are living beings who can feel startled, stressed, or in a threatening situation and can try to defend themselves by barking or biting.  Dogs have loved ones and may try to protect their puppies.  Illinois law recognizes that dogs are feeling, living creatures, and puts the burden on the dog bite victim to show that he or she was conducting himself or herself peacefully and did not provoke the dog.  The Illinois Animal Control Act provides that the dog owner is “liable in civil damages” to the victim if the dog “without provocation, attacks, attempts to attack, or injures any person who is peaceably conducting himself or herself in any place where he or she may lawfully be…”  (510 ILCS 5/16).

The Animal Control Act does define what is “provocation”.  Because the statute does not define the term, the courts give the term its ordinary and popularly understood meaning within the purpose and objective of the statute. The purpose and objectives of the Animal Control Act are to “encourage tight control of animals in order to protect the public from harm. . ..” Wilcoxen v. Paige, 174 Ill. App. 3d 541, 543 (3d Dist. 1988).  Because the law applies to all dogs, it measures the provocation from the perspective of a fictional normal dog, and not from the vantage point of any one specific dog. Provocation is a question of whether the victim’s conduct would upset a normal dog to react the way the specific dog reacted.  Such fictional dog is average and “neither unusually aggressive nor unusually docile.” Kirkham v. Will, 311 Ill. App. 3d 787, 794 (5th Dist. 2000). A normal dog may react to violent conduct, and in reacting a normal dog would act proportionally. Continue reading