Dog Bite - Does Homeowner's Insurance Cover You?

Dog Bite - Does Homeowner's Insurance Cover You?

That is a good question.  As a St. Petersburg personal injury attorney for over 26 years, I have seen many dog bite cases.  In the old days, homeowner's insurance always covered dog bites, so since the owner is strictly liable for damage done by their dog, as long as they had homeowner's insurance, you could bring a claim against that policy.  Recently however, most insurance companies have added an exclusion to their homeowner's policies that states that "dog bites" are not covered.  Unfortunately, these provisions have been upheld in the courts, so now when I handle a dog bite case, often there is no insurance coverage, even if the owner of the dog has homeowner's insurance.  One way around that exclusion is to drop the strict liability claim, and bring a simple common law negligence claim against the owner.  In effect, you argue that the reason you were injured was not caused by the dog, but caused by the owner's negligence in not controlling the dog.

There is another way that a homeowner's insurance dog bite exclusion might be important to you:  What if you own the dog that bites someone?!  I have 2 dogs:  an overly friendly whippet and an unfriendly border collie.  If you own dogs check your homeowner's policy or call your agent and see if dog bites are excluded.  If they are, your agent probably did not tell you, but it is simple enough to add a rider to the policy and get coverage.  Every insurance company sells those riders and if you want to protect yourself in case your pet does some damage, adding a rider to your homeowner's policy is the simplest way.