Who is liable when a dog bites someone in Arizona?

Question

Accepted Answer

The dog's owner is liable. In Arizona, a dog's owner is strictly liable when the dog bites a person who is in or on a public place, or lawfully in or on a private place — including the owner's own property — and is liable for the damages suffered by the person bitten regardless of the dog's former viciousness or the owner's knowledge of that viciousness .

- Owner or caretaker liability for a dog at large. Injury to any person, or damage to any property, by a dog while at large is the full responsibility of the dog's owner or of the person or persons responsible for the dog when the damages were inflicted; this at-large responsibility covers any injury or property damage and is not limited to bites .

- Duty to provide contact information. A person who owns or is responsible for the care of a dog that bites someone in a public place or a place where the victim was lawfully present must provide the owner's contact information to the person bitten .

- Provocation defense. Proof that the person injured provoked the attack is a defense to the action for damages, and provocation is judged by whether a reasonable person would expect the conduct or circumstances to be likely to provoke a dog ; for purposes of the dog-bite statute, "provocation" means tormenting, attacking or inciting a dog and incorporates that reasonable-provocation standard .

- Breed is irrelevant. A dog's breed may not be considered in findings of fact or conclusions of law by a court, administrative law judge, hearing officer, arbitrator or other legal decision-maker regarding whether a dog is aggressive or vicious or has created liability .

- Police and military dogs. Neither the dog-bite statute nor the at-large liability statute allows a damages action against a governmental agency using a dog in military or police work if the bite occurred while the dog was defending itself from a harassing or provoking act or assisting an agency employee in apprehending or holding a suspect (with reasonable suspicion of involvement in criminal activity), investigating a crime or possible crime, executing a warrant, or defending a peace officer or another person . That exception does not apply if the bite victim was not a party to, a participant in, or suspected of being a party to or participant in the act that prompted the use of the dog . It also applies only if the governmental agency has adopted a written policy on the necessary and appropriate use of a dog for the police or military work described above .