Glendale Dog Bite Lawyer

Call Pasadena Humane, which provides animal control for Glendale under contract, at (626) 792-7151, extension 998 Its officer identifies the dog and owner and starts the 10 day rabies observation. If the dog is aggressive and loose right now, or the bite happened after business hours, call Glendale Police at (818) 548-4911, or 911 for an attack in progress. The Los Angeles County Veterinary Public Health program, (213) 288-7060, also accepts bite reports online.

Adventist Health Glendale, USC Verdugo Hills Hospital, and Glendale Memorial Hospital all have 24 hour emergency departments and handle most bites, but none is a designated trauma center. For a major injury, paramedics route patients to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, the area's Level II trauma center, or to Los Angeles General Medical Center and Children's Hospital Los Angeles, the Level I adult and pediatric centers.

Under Chapter 6.04 of the Glendale Municipal Code, a dog is not at large only if it is on a chain or leash no longer than six feet held continuously by a reasonable person able to control it, is on private property possessed by someone who owns or controls the dog, or is confined inside a vehicle. Anything else, including a dog loose on a sidewalk or in a park, is at large. That violation creates a presumption of negligence that helps a knock-down claim or a claim against a non-owner handler.

No. Civil Code 3342 imposes liability regardless of the dog's former viciousness or the owner's knowledge of it, so an owner who had the dog for a week and knew nothing about its past is just as liable as one who owned it for years. The dog's history matters only in the other direction: if the dog had bitten before and the owner knew, that supports a negligence claim and, in extreme cases, punitive damages on top of strict liability.

Usually not. If you entered by the ordinary implied invitation that lets a neighbor or visitor approach the door, you were lawfully present and strict liability applies. If you went somewhere you were told not to go, you may lose the strict liability shortcut but can still bring a negligence claim. Either way, California's pure comparative fault rule reduces your recovery by your percentage of blame rather than eliminating it. Do not accept the adjuster's framing in a recorded statement; let a lawyer present the facts.

Under the Howell decision, past medical damages are measured by what was actually paid or is still owed, not by the hospital's original charges. If a Glendale emergency department billed $25,000 and your health plan settled the bill for $8,000, the medical damages are $8,000. Your health plan, Medi-Cal, or Medicare will then expect repayment out of your settlement, so a lawyer's ability to reduce those liens directly increases the money you keep. Future care, such as scar revision, is valued separately.

Possibly. A California residential landlord is liable for a tenant's dog only with actual knowledge that the dog was dangerous and the power to remove it. A no-dogs rule alone is not enough, but complaints to management about the dog, an earlier incident on the property, or a warning from Pasadena Humane can establish what the landlord knew. If the landlord knew and could have acted, the landlord's insurance becomes a second source of recovery alongside the tenant's renter policy.