Oregon Dog Bite Lawyer

Oregon’s dog bite statute, Or. Rev. Stat. § 31.360, imposes strict liability upon dog owners. This means that the owner can be held strictly liable for injuries their dog inflicted on another person. However, the victim may recover economic damages only (for example, medical expenses). The owner will not be held strictly liable if the victim was provoking the dog or trespassing at the time of the bite. But Oregon’s statute specifically states that they cannot avoid liability by arguing that they could not foresee their dog causing injury to a person, or that they did not believe their dog could be dangerous.

In order to recover non-economic damages, victims must rely on a different theory of liability, such as negligence. A victim can establish a negligence claim by proving that the owner owed them a duty to exercise reasonable care in controlling the dog, the owner breached that duty, and their injuries were proximately caused by this breach. The owner’s negligence may be proven by evidence that the owner had the dog unleashed in a public place, or the owner failed to take reasonable precautions to restrain the dog when they knew it could be dangerous towards others.