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Ohio Dog Bite
Lawyers
Bitten or knocked down by someone's dog? Our family has stood up for injured Ohioans since 1953.
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Since 1953
Family-Owned Firm
Millions Won
For Our Clients
3 Generations
of Knisley Attorneys
No Fees
Unless We Win
Who Pays After a Dog Bite in Ohio?
Ohio is a strict liability state for dog bites. The dog's owner, keeper, or harborer is generally responsible for your injuries even if the dog never bit anyone before, and payment usually comes from insurance, not
their pocket.
Ohio does not have the one-bite rule, contrary to popular belief. The owner, keeper, or harborer of a dog is strictly liable under the state's dog-bite statute (R.C. 955.28) for the injury the dog causes, whether or not the dog ever showed a mean streak before. The statute applies to injury "caused by a dog", which includes not only bites but also being knocked down or chased by a dog. You do not have to show the owner or keeper was negligent. You must prove only that the dog caused your injury, and that none of the narrow exceptions to the rule apply.
You can still recover when
The dog never bit anyone before
The dog knocked you down or chased you, even without a bite
You were an invited guest at the owner's home
A child was bitten
When the law does not protect you
You were trespassing on the owner's property
You were teasing, tormenting, or abusing
the dog
You were committing a crime at the time
Do I really have to sue my neighbor?
Usually not in the way you fear. In most dog bite cases the claim is paid by the owner's homeowner's or renter's insurance, because that is exactly what the coverage is for. The claim is made against a policy, not your neighbor's bank account, and we manage the process in a way that keeps the temperature down. Under Ohio's new dangerous-dog law, owners of dogs designated dangerous or vicious must now carry at least 100,000 dollars in liability insurance, so in the situations people worry about most, insurance is more likely to be there.
What changed under Ohio's new Avery's Law?
In 2026, Ohio completely revamped its dangerous-dog laws with Avery's Law. Now, dog wardens can immediately seize a dog after a serious unprovoked attack. Owners of designated dangerous or vicious dogs are required to have liability insurance and be placed on a statewide registry. Criminal penalties for owners if an attack happens are higher. Also, a court must order humane euthanasia when a dog kills or seriously injures a person during an unprovoked attack. What hasn't changed is your civil claim: the right to compensation under R.C. 955.28 works the same as before.
What to Do After a
Dog Bite in Ohio
Get medical care, identify the dog and its owner, report the bite to your county, and be careful with the owner's insurance company. You generally have two years to bring a claim, and children's claims may have longer.
Get Medical Care
Right Away
Puncture wounds infect easily, and a doctor will also confirm whether you need a rabies treatment
Identify The Dog And Its Owner
Get the owner's name and contact information, and ask for proof of the dog's vaccinations.
Report The Bite To Your County
File a bite report with the
county health department or
dog warden.
Be Careful With The Insurance Companies
Do not give the owner's insurer a recorded statement or accept a quick check for the ER bill.
Talk To An
Attorney Early
Ohio generally allows two years to file suit (R.C. 2305.10), and a child's claim may have longer.
Compensation You Can Recover After an Ohio Dog Bite
An Ohio dog bite claim can pay your medical bills, the cost of scar revision down the
road, your lost wages, and the pain and trauma the attack caused, which often runs deepest in children.
Medical Bills
Emergency care, infection treatment, rabies shots when needed, and every follow-up visit the bite requires.
Scarring And Future Surgeries
Bite scars often need revision surgery years later, and that future cost belongs in your claim today.
Lost Wages
The work you missed for treatment and recovery, and any lasting effect on your ability to earn.
Pain, Suffering, And Trauma
The fear that follows an attack, including counseling for children who become afraid of dogs.
What Is Your Dog Bite Claim Worth?
There is no set price. The value depends on how visible and permanent the scarring is, whether revision surgery is likely, the age of the person bitten, the trauma that follows, and the insurance available. Scars on a child are valued over a lifetime, not a season. We cannot promise a number, but we can show you how it is really decided.
If the owner knew the dog was dangerous and let it happen anyway, Ohio's common-law claim may open the door to punitive damages on top of your other recovery.
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Dealing With the
Insurance Company
The owner's insurance company often sounds like a helpful neighbor. Their job is to close your claim while the wound is fresh and before anyone knows what the scar will look like.
The homeowner's carrier hurry bite claims because early is cheap. An offer that pays the emergency room bill may seem fair in week one, but it overlooks the infection that appears later. It also misses the revision surgery the surgeon recommends after the scar matures and the counseling a frightened child may require. The recorded statement they ask for gives them words to trim the claim with. The release they send ends it forever. You do not owe them a conversation. Refer every call to us, and the pressure stops.
Why the first offer is almost never the real number
Bite scars keep changing for months, and a fair number cannot be set before the scar settles and a surgeon weighs in. Initial offers are priced on the wound, not the outcome. When the claim is valued on the outcome, the number changes.
Dog Bites and Injuries We Handle
We represent Ohioans hurt by dog bites and dog attacks of every kind, from bites to children and delivery workers to knock-down injuries, loose-dog attacks, and severe facial bites.
Bites to children
Attacks on walkers and joggers
Children take most of the serious bites, often to the face, and their claims deserve the most care.
Dogs that barrel out of yards and driveways at people simply walking by. Bites often land on the hands and arms raised to block the attack.
Delivery and service worker bites
Drivers, carriers, and technicians bitten on the job, where a second claim may apply.
Knock-down and chase injuries
Ohio's statute covers injuries a dog causes without biting, like falls from being jumped on or chased.
Loose and escaped dog attacks
Dogs running at large when fences, leashes, or doors fail. Many of these attacks happen in the victim's own yard.
Severe facial and disfiguring bites
The attacks that leave permanent marks, where valuation matters most. A plastic surgeon may need to close these wounds from the start.
Leash attacks in parks and neighborhoods
Bites that happen on walks, at parks, and between neighbors' dogs and people.
Bites while a guest in
someone's home
Invited guests are protected by the statute, and the visit does not change that.
How Our Ohio Dog Bite Attorneys Help
Our family handles every stage of a dog bite claim, from the first report to the final settlement.
Proving Who Owns or Keeps the Dog
Liability may extend to the owner, the keeper, or the harborer of the dog. Naming the right one determines whose insurance pays.
Handling the Report
We handle the county bite report and the dangerous-dog designation process that Avery's Law reshaped, so those steps get done right while you focus on healing.
Dealing With the Insurance Company
All calls, letters, and requests from the carrier go through us, so nothing you say can be used to minimize the claim.
Negotiating Your Settlement
We push back on wound-priced offers with outcome evidence, and you never sign a release until the number is right.
Valuing Scarring and Future Care
We work with treating doctors and surgeons to value revision surgery and lasting marks, not just the first hospital bill.
Filing Suit and Trial
If the carrier will not pay fairly, we file suit within the two-year deadline and take your case to a jury.
Dog bite claims are won with documentation over time. Photograph the wound the day it happens and again as it heals, keep the vaccination and county report records, and get witness names early. Scars keep changing for months, and the record of that change is what makes an insurer pay for the outcome instead of the first visit.
Three generations of our attorneys have done this work, and it costs nothing up front: we charge no fee unless we win your case.
Bitten by a Dog While Working?
If you were bitten on the job, you may have two claims: an Ohio Workers' Comp claim and this personal injury claim against the dog's owner. Delivery drivers and mail carriers face this every week. We handle both claims.
Your Workers' Comp Claim
No-fault, runs through the BWC
Covers your medical care and part of your lost wages, no matter whose dog it was.
Your Personal Injury Claim
Against the dog's owner
Adds the pain and suffering and the rest of the lost wages that Workers' Comp does not pay.
The two claims are connected. The BWC has a right to be reimbursed out of your recovery for a portion of what it paid on your claim, and we negotiate that down so that you keep more. When the same firm handles both claims, the two insurers cannot use one against the other, and we time each settlement so that one check does not diminish what you keep from the other.
Related Personal Injury Cases We Handle
Our family also handles these related personal injury cases for injured Ohioans.
Semi and commercial truck crashes, where federal rules and bigger policies change the case.
Frequently Asked Questions
About Dog Bites in Ohio
