Abogado especializado en mordeduras de perro en San Bernardino
Abogado especializado en mordeduras de perro en San Bernardino
On This Page
- San Bernardino and San Bernardino County Dog Bite Statistics
- California Dog Bite Law: Strict Liability Under Civil Code 3342
- San Bernardino Leash Law and Dog Ordinances
- San Bernardino Animal Control and Rabies Follow-Up
- What To Do After a San Bernardino Dog Bite
- San Bernardino Hospitals and Urgent Care for Dog Bites
- How To Report a Dog Bite in San Bernardino
- Who Can Be Held Responsible for a San Bernardino Dog Bite
- Filing a Dog Bite Claim in San Bernardino County
- Compensation for San Bernardino Dog Bite Victims
- Comparative Negligence in California Dog Bite Cases
- Statute of Limitations for San Bernardino Dog Bite Cases
- Homeowner and Renter Insurance for San Bernardino Dog Bites
- Why Choose Dog Bite Laws for Your San Bernardino Case
- Preguntas frecuentes
- Strict Liability: Civil Code 3342 makes a San Bernardino dog owner liable for a bite in public or on private property where you were lawfully present, with no proof that the dog was dangerous before.
- City Leash Rule: San Bernardino Municipal Code 6.08.140 requires a dog to be leashed, otherwise restrained, or fenced at all times except inside an authorized off-leash dog park.
- Animal Services: Bites inside the city are reported to City of San Bernardino Animal Services at (909) 998-4000, which runs the rabies quarantine.
- Level I Trauma: Loma Linda University Medical Center and Arrowhead Regional Medical Center are the region's Level I adult trauma centers, and Loma Linda University Children's Hospital is the Level I pediatric center.
- Two Year Deadline: Code of Civil Procedure 335.1 gives an adult two years from the bite to file suit, and a claim against a city, county, or K-9 unit must be filed with the agency within six months.
- Pure Comparative Fault: California reduces your award by your share of fault but never bars recovery, so even a victim found mostly responsible still collects part of the damages.
- Paid Not Billed: Under the Howell decision, your medical damages are measured by what was actually paid or still owed, not the hospital's original bill.
- Insurance Pays: California led the nation with 2,104 dog-related injury insurance claims in 2023, and most of them were paid by the owner's homeowner or renter policy.
If a dog bit you or your child in San Bernardino, the law starts on your side. Under California’s strict liability dog bite law, Civil Code 3342, the dog’s owner is responsible for a bite that happens in a public place or anywhere you were lawfully present, and it makes no difference whether the dog had ever bitten before or whether the owner was careless. You need to show who owned the dog, that it bit you, that you had a right to be where you were, and that the bite hurt you.
This page walks through the city’s leash and licensing rules, how City of San Bernardino Animal Services handles a bite report and the rabies quarantine, which hospitals in and around the city offer trauma care for a serious bite, who besides the owner may owe you compensation, the two-year filing deadline, and how the owner’s homeowner or renter insurance actually pays these claims.
Dog Bite Laws handles dog attack cases only. The consultation is free, and you pay no fee unless we recover money for you.
San Bernardino and San Bernardino County Dog Bite Statistics
Neither the City of San Bernardino nor San Bernardino County publishes a simple annual count of dog bites to people, so there is no single official number for the city. What does exist is a paper trail. City Animal Services requires a quarantine for every dog that bites a person and breaks the skin, regardless of the dog’s vaccination status, and each of those quarantines produces a record. Your lawyer can request the file on the dog that bit you, and it often shows whether the same dog was reported before.
The state picture is clear. In the U.S. Postal Service’s 2025 dog attack rankings, California ranked first among all states with 673 attacks on mail carriers, nearly double second-place Texas at 358, out of more than 5,200 postal employees attacked nationwide. The Insurance Information Institute reported 2,104 dog-related injury insurance claims in California in 2023, the most of any state, with an average payout of $68,125 and $143.3 million paid in total.
Children are the highest risk group everywhere, and San Bernardino is no exception. A child’s face is at the height of a large dog’s mouth, so bites to children are far more likely to involve the face, scalp, and neck. That is why facial scarring and future revision surgery are such a large part of a child’s claim, and why a pediatric trauma center matters, as discussed below.
California Dog Bite Law: Strict Liability Under Civil Code 3342
California gives no dog a free first bite. Civil Code 3342 holds the owner of any dog liable for the damages suffered by a person bitten while in a public place or lawfully in a private place, including the owner’s own home and yard, regardless of the dog’s past behavior or what the owner knew about it. For a San Bernardino victim, that means you do not have to dig up a history of aggression or prove the owner left a gate open. Ownership, a bite, your lawful presence, and your injuries are the whole case.
You are covered on any sidewalk, street, park, trail, or business open to the public. On the owner’s own property, you are covered if you were invited, expressly or by implication, which includes guests, contractors, repair technicians, and a neighbor walking up to the door. You are also covered if you were there to do a job the law requires. The statute specifically mentions postal regulations, so a mail carrier on the porch is protected, and the same logic reaches meter readers, utility workers, and delivery drivers.
Two groups are outside the statute. A trespasser cannot use strict liability, although a trespasser may still bring an ordinary negligence claim. And a police or sheriff’s K-9 that bites a suspect during listed police work is exempt as long as the agency has a written K-9 policy. That exemption does not shield the agency when the person bitten was a bystander who had nothing to do with the incident.
Civil Code 3342 applies to bites. A dog that knocks you down, chases you into the street, or pulls you off a bicycle without biting is handled under ordinary negligence, and a leash law violation, covered next, usually supplies the proof.
San Bernardino Leash Law and Dog Ordinances
California has no statewide leash law, so the rule that governs a San Bernardino bite is the city’s own. San Bernardino Municipal Code 6.08.140 requires anyone who owns or has control of a dog to keep it on a leash at all times, or secured by another suitable means of restraint, or confined by a fence on their own property or on someone else’s with permission. The only leash exception is an authorized off-leash dog park, and the section also exempts dogs in formal obedience training or in a dog show the city has permitted. The ordinance states its purpose plainly: to prevent the animal from being at large, from biting or harassing any person engaged in a lawful act, and from interfering with the use of public or private property. A violation is an infraction.
Every dog four months or older must also be vaccinated against rabies and licensed with the city’s Animal Services division, which is one reason a bite report is so useful: the license record ties the dog to a named owner.
The city’s code also has its own chapter on vicious and potentially dangerous dogs, Chapter 6.09, layered on top of the state framework in Food and Agricultural Code 31601. A dog that bites without provocation can be declared potentially dangerous, and a dog that inflicts a severe injury can be declared vicious, with confinement, leash, and muzzle conditions imposed on the owner. State law prohibits any city from declaring a dog dangerous because of its breed.
Why does the leash rule matter to you? When an owner or handler breaks a safety ordinance and the violation causes exactly the kind of injury the ordinance was written to prevent, California law presumes the person was negligent. That presumption is the backbone of a knock-down claim and the main way to hold a dog walker or a friend who was watching the dog responsible, since the strict liability statute reaches only the owner.
San Bernardino Animal Control and Rabies Follow-Up
Inside the city limits, bite reports go to City of San Bernardino Animal Services, which takes reports by phone at (909) 998-4000 or through the city’s SB Access Online request system. The customer service office is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
When a report comes in, an Animal Control Officer identifies the dog and its owner, checks the license and rabies vaccination, and places the dog under the quarantine that California requires for any dog that bites a person and breaks the skin. The city allows the quarantine to be served at the city shelter, at a private veterinary clinic, or at the owner’s home if the officer approves. The observation period for a dog is 10 days. If the dog stays healthy, rabies is ruled out. If the dog cannot be found or identified, your doctor will likely recommend the post-exposure vaccine series, and that cost becomes part of your claim.
The San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, Communicable Disease Section, handles rabies follow-up for the whole county at (800) 722-4794, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. After hours, on weekends, and on holidays, the section’s after-hours line is (800) 472-2376.
The report is the foundation of your case. The Animal Services file will show who owned the dog, whether it was licensed, whether anyone reported it before, and whether a dangerous dog hearing was ever held. Read more about what happens after a dog bite is reported.
What To Do After a San Bernardino Dog Bite
What you do in the first day shapes everything that follows. Take these steps in this order.
- Get to safety and call 911 if anyone is seriously hurt or the dog is still loose and aggressive. For a contained dog and a non-emergency situation, the San Bernardino Police Department non-emergency line is (909) 383-5311, 24 hours a day.
- Identify the dog and its owner before anyone leaves. Get the owner’s name, phone number, and the address where the dog lives, and ask for proof of the rabies vaccination.
- See a doctor the same day, even for a small puncture. Dog bites drive bacteria deep under the skin, and an infection can take hold within a day or two. Any bite to the face, hand, or a child belongs in an emergency room.
- Report the bite to City of San Bernardino Animal Services at (909) 998-4000. This starts the quarantine and creates the official record that names the owner and reveals prior complaints.
- Photograph everything while it is fresh. The wounds before and after treatment, torn clothing, the spot where it happened, the gate or fence the dog came through, and the dog itself if that is safe.
- Collect witness names and numbers. Neighbors, other dog owners, and delivery drivers who have seen the dog loose before are the people who will confirm what happened.
- Keep everything. Save torn clothing unwashed, every discharge sheet and bill, and a short daily note about pain, missed work, and any fear of dogs your child is showing.
- Do not give a recorded statement to the owner’s insurance company before you talk to a lawyer. Adjusters are trained to turn an innocent description into a provocation argument that reduces what you recover.
San Bernardino Hospitals and Urgent Care for Dog Bites
A serious bite, meaning deep tissue damage, a wound to the face or hand, heavy bleeding, or any significant injury to a child, belongs at a hospital with trauma and surgical resources rather than a walk-in clinic. The county’s Level I trauma centers are in neighboring Loma Linda and Colton.
- Loma Linda University Medical Center. Level I adult trauma center designated by the county’s emergency medical services agency. Emergency department open 24 hours. General line (877) 558-6248.
- Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital. The area’s Level I pediatric trauma center. Children’s emergency room (909) 651-6233, open 24 hours.
- Arrowhead Regional Medical Center. The county hospital in neighboring Colton, designated a Level I adult trauma center. Main line (909) 580-1000. Emergency department open 24 hours.
- Community Hospital of San Bernardino. A Dignity Health hospital inside the city with a 24-hour emergency room at (909) 887-6333, appropriate for bites that need stitches and antibiotics but not a trauma team.
- St. Bernardine Medical Center. Also a Dignity Health hospital in the city, with a 24-hour emergency room.
If the wound is on the face, especially on a child, keep every record from that visit, because your lawyer will rely on the medical records to prove the care you will need later.
How To Report a Dog Bite in San Bernardino
Because the state has declared all of California a rabies area, state regulations (Title 17, section 2606) require that the local health officer be notified whenever a dog bites a person. In San Bernardino that duty is satisfied by contacting one of these agencies.
- City of San Bernardino Animal Services. (909) 998-4000, or the SB Access Online request system. The place to report any bite or aggressive dog inside the city limits.
- – San Bernardino Police Department, non-emergency. (909) 383-5311, 24 hours. For an owner who refuses to identify the dog, threatens you, or leaves the scene. The department’s business and information line is (909) 384-5742.
- San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, Valley non-emergency dispatch. (909) 387-8313. For bites in unincorporated county areas or county parks just outside the city.
- San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, Communicable Disease Section. (800) 722-4794. For rabies questions and follow-up on the quarantine.
- 911. For any attack in progress, a loose aggressive dog, or an injury that needs an ambulance.
When you make the report, ask for the case or activity number and request a copy of the report. If the agency will not release the file directly to you, your lawyer can obtain it. The report is the quickest way to find out whether the same dog was reported before, which changes the value of the case.
Who Can Be Held Responsible for a San Bernardino Dog Bite
The owner is the obvious defendant, but a careful investigation in San Bernardino often turns up more than one responsible party and more than one insurance policy.
- The owner. Strictly liable for a bite. When a couple, roommates, or an adult child living at home share the dog, each may count as an owner with a separate policy. Learn more about what determines ownership of a dog.
- A keeper, dog walker, or pet sitter. Not covered by the strict liability statute, but liable for negligence, and a leash law violation makes negligence presumed.
- A residential landlord. Under the Uccello rule, a landlord who actually knew a tenant’s dog was dangerous and had the power to remove it owes a duty to the people the dog hurts. A complex with a no-pets or restricted-dog rule that management knew was being broken is a prime example.
- A commercial landlord or business. A commercial property owner must inspect at lease renewal and remove a dangerous dog the owner knew or should have known about, and a store or business that lets a dog roam its premises can be liable in negligence.
- A government agency. Responsible when a K-9 bites a bystander or a dog attacks on public property, but a written government claim must be filed within six months, as explained below.
Each responsible party usually brings its own insurance. Finding every policy early is often the difference between a partial recovery and a full one, especially in a case with facial scarring or surgery.
Filing a Dog Bite Claim in San Bernardino County
If your case has to be filed, it goes to the Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino. Your lawyer prepares the filing, keeps track of every deadline, and deals with the court, so you can concentrate on getting well.
Most San Bernardino dog bite claims never reach a courtroom. The owner’s homeowner or renter insurer pays the great majority, and most settle before a lawsuit is filed. Filing still matters when an adjuster stalls or lowballs: a filed case puts the claim on a schedule the insurer cannot ignore, and settlements often follow soon after.
Small claims court lets an individual sue for up to $12,500 without a lawyer. That ceiling rarely fits a bite that needed an emergency visit, stitches, or any follow-up treatment, so talk to a lawyer before choosing that route.
Compensation for San Bernardino Dog Bite Victims
A San Bernardino dog bite claim can recover every category of loss the bite caused, and California places no cap on pain and suffering in a dog bite case. The categories are:
- Past and future medical expenses. Emergency care, antibiotics, the rabies vaccine series if the dog could not be found, plastic surgery, physical therapy for a hand injury, and scar revision years later.
- Lost wages and earning capacity. Time off work and any lasting reduction in what you can earn, which matters for anyone who works with their hands.
- Pain and suffering. The physical pain of the injury and its treatment.
- Scarring and disfigurement. Compensated separately, and often the largest part of a child’s facial bite case.
- Emotional distress and PTSD. Nightmares, anxiety, and fear of dogs are common, especially in children, and counseling costs are recoverable. Read about emotional trauma after a dog attack.
- Out-of-pocket costs. Torn clothing, a broken phone, prescriptions, mileage to appointments, and help at home.
One California rule catches many victims off guard. Under the Howell decision, past medical damages are measured by what was actually paid or is still owed, not by the hospital’s original bill. If your health plan negotiated a $24,000 emergency bill down to $7,000, the medical damages are $7,000. That makes the handling of medical liens critical, because Medi-Cal, Medicare, and private plans expect to be repaid out of your recovery, and a lawyer who negotiates those liens down puts more of the settlement in your pocket.
Punitive damages are available only when the owner acted with malice or a conscious disregard for safety, such as leaving a dog loose after it had already bitten someone. See what drives value on our California average dog bite settlement page, or get a rough estimate with the dog bite settlement calculator.
Comparative Negligence in California Dog Bite Cases
California uses pure comparative fault. If a jury decides you share some responsibility for the bite, your award is reduced by your percentage, but it is never eliminated, no matter how high that percentage is.
Here is how it works in a San Bernardino case. Suppose a jury sets your total damages at $120,000 for a forearm bite at a city park and decides you were 20 percent at fault for reaching toward a dog after its owner said to keep back. You recover $96,000. If the jury put your share at 60 percent, you would still recover $48,000. Only a finding that you were 100 percent responsible produces nothing.
Provocation is the defense you will hear most often. Civil Code 3342 contains no provocation exception, so teasing, cornering, or startling a dog is argued as your comparative fault, not as a complete bar. The genuinely complete defenses are narrow: a person who deliberately invited the bite, or a professional such as a veterinarian or kennel worker who took the dog into their care for pay. An ordinary guest, a neighbor, or a child is at most in the comparative fault category, and California juries are reluctant to blame a young child at all. Learn more about whether a child can provoke a dog.
This is also why a recorded statement is risky. An adjuster’s questions are designed to get you to agree with a version of events that raises your percentage. Let a lawyer present the facts.
Statute of Limitations for San Bernardino Dog Bite Cases
An adult bitten in San Bernardino has two years from the date of the bite to file a lawsuit under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1. Opening an insurance claim, sending a demand, or trading emails with an adjuster does not pause that clock. Once it runs, the claim is over regardless of how strong it was. Our overview of the dog bite statute of limitations explains the rules in more detail.
For a child, the clock does not begin until the 18th birthday, so the practical deadline is the 20th birthday. That does not make waiting wise. The dog may be rehomed or put down, the owner may move or change insurers, Animal Services records are easier to obtain while they are fresh, and witnesses forget what they saw.
The deadline collapses when a government entity is involved. If the dog belonged to the city, the county, a school district, or any other public agency, or if a police or sheriff’s K-9 bit a bystander, a written government claim must be filed with that agency within six months of the bite, and that rule is not extended for children. After the agency rejects the claim, a lawsuit must follow within six months of the rejection. Because those cases have to be screened on day one, call a lawyer promptly if any public agency was involved.
Homeowner and Renter Insurance for San Bernardino Dog Bites
Most San Bernardino dog bite claims are paid by the dog owner’s homeowner, condo, or renter insurance, not out of the owner’s pocket. When the dog belongs to a friend, a relative, or a neighbor, making a claim is not asking that person to write a check. It is asking the insurer they already pay premiums to for exactly this situation.
Typical personal liability limits run from $100,000 to $300,000, and a policy may also include medical payments coverage, which can pay reasonable medical expenses for someone accidentally hurt on the owner’s property. Owners with umbrella policies carry $1 million or more on top, which matters in cases involving surgery or a child’s face.
California is the top state for these claims. The Insurance Information Institute counted 2,104 California dog-related injury claims in 2023, more than any other state, with an average payout of $68,125, and the national average cost per claim rose 97 percent from 2016 to 2025 as medical costs and settlement values have climbed.
Two coverage traps come up in San Bernardino cases. Some insurers will not cover certain breeds, and once a dog has bitten someone an insurer may charge a higher premium, nonrenew the policy, or exclude the dog from coverage, so some policies carry an animal liability exclusion buried in the endorsements. And if the owner never disclosed the dog when applying, the insurer may try to void coverage. Both problems can sometimes be solved by finding a second policy, a co-owner, or a landlord who knew about the dog, which is why we ask for the full policy, not just the declarations page.
Why Choose Dog Bite Laws for Your San Bernardino Case
Dog Bite Laws handles dog attack cases and nothing else. That focus shows in the details: knowing how City of San Bernardino Animal Services files a bite report and how to get the prior complaint history, how the Howell rule changes the value of your medical bills, and how to find the second insurance policy that many firms never look for.
When you hire us, we deal with the owner’s insurance company, gather the Animal Services and medical records, negotiate the medical liens that come out of your recovery, and file and handle the court case if the insurer will not pay what the claim is worth. You pay nothing up front and no fee unless we recover money for you.
If a dog bit you or your child in San Bernardino, call Dog Bite Laws or send us a message for a free consultation. We will tell you honestly what your case involves and what we can do about it.
Preguntas frecuentes
Inside the city, City of San Bernardino Animal Services at (909) 998-4000 investigates the bite and orders the quarantine, which can be served at the city shelter, a private veterinary clinic, or the owner's home if the officer approves. If the bite happened in an unincorporated area outside the city, San Bernardino County Animal Care takes the report through its field services line at (800) 472-5609. Either way, the county's Communicable Disease Section at (800) 722-4794 handles rabies follow-up.
Yes. San Bernardino Municipal Code 6.08.140 requires a dog to be on a leash at all times, or secured by another suitable restraint, or confined by a fence, except inside an authorized off-leash dog park. The ordinance does not set a specific leash length, so the question is whether the dog was under control. A dog running loose on a sidewalk or in a park violates the ordinance, and that violation creates a presumption of negligence that is especially useful when the person handling the dog was not its owner.
Loma Linda University Children's Hospital is the region's Level I pediatric trauma center, and its children's emergency room at (909) 651-6233 is open around the clock. Call 911 if the bleeding is heavy or your child is losing consciousness.
Both may be. The owner is strictly liable under Civil Code 3342 no matter who was holding the leash, so the owner's homeowner or renter policy is still the first source of recovery. The friend who was watching the dog is not an owner, so strict liability does not apply to them, but they can be liable for negligence, and if they let the dog off leash or out of a fenced yard in violation of the city ordinance, negligence is presumed. That can add a second insurance policy to the claim.
Not on a recorded line, and not before you have talked to a lawyer. California's pure comparative fault rule means every percentage point of blame the adjuster can pin on you comes straight out of your recovery, and adjusters are skilled at framing questions so an honest answer sounds like you provoked the dog. You are not required to give a recorded statement to the owner's insurer. Let your lawyer present the facts in writing, with the Animal Services report and your medical records attached.
Yes, but the amount is measured differently than many people expect. Under the Howell decision, you recover the amount your health plan actually paid plus anything you still owe, not the hospital's original billed charges. Your plan will then expect to be repaid from the settlement, and Medi-Cal and Medicare have a legal right to reimbursement. A lawyer who negotiates those repayment claims down before the case closes often puts far more in your pocket than the difference in a fee.
The quarantine happens regardless. City Animal Services requires any dog that breaks the skin to be observed for 10 days, in a place and manner the local health officer approves. If the dog is healthy at the end of the period, rabies is ruled out. If the dog cannot be located, your doctor will probably recommend the post-exposure vaccine series, and that cost is part of your claim. Read more about being bitten by an unvaccinated dog.
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