Abogado especializado en mordeduras de perro en Orlando
Abogado especializado en mordeduras de perro en Orlando
On This Page
- Orlando and Orange County Dog Bite Statistics
- Florida Dog Bite Law: Strict Liability for the Dog's Owner
- Orlando Leash Law and Dog Ordinances
- Orlando Animal Control and Rabies Follow-Up
- What To Do After an Orlando Dog Bite
- Orlando Hospitals and Urgent Care for Dog Bites
- How To Report a Dog Bite in Orlando
- Who Can Be Held Responsible for an Orlando Dog Bite
- Filing a Dog Bite Claim in Orange County
- Compensation for Orlando Dog Bite Victims
- Comparative Fault in Florida: The More Than 50 Percent Bar
- Statute of Limitations for Orlando Dog Bite Cases
- Homeowner and Renter Insurance for Orlando Dog Bites
- Why Choose Dog Bite Laws for Your Orlando Case
- Preguntas frecuentes
- Owner Pays: Under Section 767.04, the owner of a dog that bites you in Orlando is liable whether or not the dog ever bit anyone before.
- County Rules Apply: Orlando adopted the Orange County animal ordinance, so county leash, quarantine and dangerous dog rules apply inside city limits.
- Call 311: Orange County Animal Services takes bite reports through 311 and sends an officer to investigate.
- Ten Day Watch: A dog that bit someone in Orange County is quarantined for at least 10 calendar days, at home only by exception for a vaccinated dog.
- 291 Exposures: The Florida Department of Health recorded 291 possible rabies exposures in Orange County in 2024, counting every species, not just dogs.
- One Level I Center: Orlando Regional Medical Center is the only Orange County hospital on the state's trauma center list, at Level I.
- Two Year Deadline: For a bite after March 24, 2023, plan on two years to file suit, and a child with a parent usually gets no extra time.
- Over 50 Percent Bar: In a suit filed after March 24, 2023, a victim found more than half at fault for the bite recovers nothing.
If a dog bit you in Orlando, the owner is usually responsible. Florida’s bite statute, Section 767.04, makes the owner liable for a bite in a public place or while you were lawfully on private property, with no need to show the dog had been dangerous before. Locally, the city has adopted Orange County’s animal ordinance, so Orange County Animal Services handles the report, the quarantine and any dangerous dog case.
This page covers the bite and rabies numbers that are actually published for Orange County, the county leash rule and the city’s park rule, how quarantine works here, the trauma center, how to report, who can be responsible, the Ninth Judicial Circuit courts, and the deadlines. The full statewide rules are on our Florida dog bite law page.
Dog Bite Laws handles dog attack cases. The consultation is free, and you pay no fee unless we recover money for you.
Orlando and Orange County Dog Bite Statistics
Orange County Animal Services investigates bites in the city, but its fiscal year 2025 summary reports shelter intake and outcomes, 6,680 dogs impounded among 15,417 animals, with no line for bites.
The nearest local measure comes from the Florida Department of Health. Its FLHealthCHARTS system counts possible rabies exposures by county: bites and similar contacts that led to rabies shots for the person, or to testing, isolation or quarantine of the animal. Orange County recorded 291 in 2024, 304 in 2023 and 280 in 2022. The 2024 rate of 19.1 per 100,000 residents was below Florida’s 32.3. Those totals include every species, bats and cats as well as dogs, and a bite no one reported never enters them.
Rabies in local dogs is rare. The department’s 2025 county table lists 10 confirmed animal rabies cases in Orange County, 8 bats and 2 raccoons. None were dogs.
Money figures exist only at the state level. The Insurance Information Institute and State Farm counted 2,347 Florida dog bite claims in 2025, averaging $62,375 per claim, against a national average of $65,450. Those are insurance averages, not settlement values.
Florida Dog Bite Law: Strict Liability for the Dog's Owner
Section 767.04 makes the owner of a dog that bites a person “while such person is on or in a public place, or lawfully on or in a private place, including the property of the owner of the dog,” liable for the damages, “regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owners’ knowledge of such viciousness.” In Florida the first bite counts. That is the opposite of the one bite rule used in some states.
You are lawfully on private property if you are there on the owner’s invitation, expressed or implied, or performing a duty under state or federal law or postal regulations. Guests, customers and mail carriers all fit.
Three limits matter in an Orlando case:
- The Bad Dog sign. An owner who displayed a prominent, easily readable sign including the words Bad Dog is not liable under the statute, except to a victim under 6 or where the owner’s own negligent act or omission caused the damages.
- Your share of fault. Your own negligence reduces the award by its percentage, and in a suit filed after March 24, 2023, more than half the fault bars recovery.
- Only the owner. The statute names the owner. Anyone else is reached through ordinary negligence.
A knockdown with no bite can still be a claim under Section 767.01, which makes an owner liable for any damage the dog does to a person. Our Florida dog bite law page covers each rule and its exceptions in full.
Orlando Leash Law and Dog Ordinances
Chapter 767, Florida’s dog statute, has no general leash rule for dogs that have not been classified as dangerous, so the rule that matters is local. Orlando does not write its own. City Code section 6.01 adopts the Orange County Animal Services Ordinance, as amended from time to time, and puts it “in full force and effect within the boundaries of the City of Orlando.”
The core rule is Orange County Code section 5-33. No owner, and no one with charge, care, custody or control of a dog, may let it run at large on public property or off the owner’s premises. The county defines at large in section 5-29. Off the owner’s premises, a dog is at large unless a competent person controls it by leash, cord or chain. On the owner’s own property, it is at large if it is not under a competent person’s control or not confined or restrained. Designated dog parks, hunting, and shows are excepted.
- Tethering. A dog chained or tied so it can reach a sidewalk, street or a neighbor’s yard is a violation under section 5-33(a)(5).
- City parks. City Code section 18A.09(v) bars dogs at large on public property in city parks, except in city approved off leash dog parks, and keeps dogs off city athletic fields entirely.
- Bites. Section 5-50 lists failing to control an animal so that it bites a person as a Category I violation, with an exception for a dog reacting to someone unlawfully on the property or protecting its owner from an unjustified attack.
Violations can be handled as civil infractions with fines of up to $500. The bite statute makes the owner liable without proof of any ordinance violation. In deJesus v. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (1973), the Florida Supreme Court explained that violating a statute written to protect a particular class of people from a particular kind of injury is negligence per se, while violating other statutes, such as traffic regulations, is only prima facie evidence of negligence. Ask your lawyer which category the county leash rule falls into in your case.
Orlando Animal Control and Rabies Follow-Up
Inside Orlando city limits, Orange County Animal Services is the animal control agency. The county lists the service area as “throughout Orange County, including all municipalities,” and the city has adopted the county ordinance it enforces. Its shelter is on Conroy Road in Orlando.
Once a bite is reported, an Animal Services Officer is dispatched. Under County Code section 5-37, a dog that has bitten or is believed to have bitten a person is quarantined for rabies observation for no less than 10 calendar days. The owner must surrender the dog for quarantine on demand, and refusing is itself a violation.
Animal Services says where the dog spends those days depends on the severity of the exposure. Under the code, home confinement is an exception, available for a dog with a current rabies vaccination given by a licensed veterinarian and approved by health officials. A dog without a current vaccination can be held at the county shelter, a veterinarian or an approved boarding kennel at the owner’s expense. Animal Services publishes the home quarantine rules: the dog stays indoors, away from new people and animals, and supervised at all times, and it may not receive a rabies vaccine until the quarantine ends. If it falls ill, turns aggressive, goes missing or dies, the owner must call Animal Services immediately.
On the medical side, the Florida Department of Health in Orange County runs the rabies prevention program, and its rabies page says the program coordinates treatment for bite victims through the health department, hospitals and local providers. Whether you need shots is a decision for your doctor and the health department, not for the owner.
The county ordinance also lets Animal Services send the owner a notice of propensity letter after a first bite or documented aggressive behavior. Since a 2026 amendment, an owner who knows of a dog’s dangerous propensities must keep it in a proper enclosure even if the dog has never been declared dangerous. If a letter went out before your bite, ask Animal Services for a copy.
What To Do After an Orlando Dog Bite
- Get clear of the dog. Call 911 if it is still loose or the injury is serious.
- Wash the wound. Use soap and running water for several minutes, then get it seen the same day. A puncture can look small and still carry bacteria deep.
- Identify the dog and its home. Owner’s name, street address, and the dog’s description. If the owner leaves, note the house or apartment number the dog went back to.
- Report through 311 before the day is out, so the 10 day quarantine starts on time and a county file exists.
- Photograph the scene. The gate, the latch, the fence line, any tether, and every sign at the entrances, including any Bad Dog sign.
- Get witness names and numbers, including neighbors who have seen this dog loose before.
- Write down what the owner said, word for word if you can. “He got out again” is evidence.
- Keep every bill and explanation of benefits. Florida now proves medical damages largely by what was actually paid.
- Hold off with the insurer. Give no recorded statement and sign nothing until you have talked to a lawyer.
If the bite happened in a city park, note the park name and whether the dog was inside a fenced off leash area. That one fact changes which rule applies.
Orlando Hospitals and Urgent Care for Dog Bites
The Florida Department of Health’s list of Florida trauma centers, updated July 23, 2026, carries one Orange County hospital:
- Orlando Health Orlando Regional Medical Center. Level I trauma center, Orange County.
The same list includes two Level II centers in neighboring counties: HCA Florida Osceola Hospital in Osceola County and HCA Florida Lake Monroe Hospital in Seminole County.
Urgent care can clean a shallow bite, start antibiotics and update a tetanus shot. Go to an emergency department if the bite is deep or will not stop bleeding, if it is on the face, a hand or over a joint, if the victim is a young child, if the dog cannot be found or was unvaccinated, or if redness, swelling or fever show up in the following days. Watch for the signs of a dog bite infection, and tell every provider it was a dog bite so the chart records it that way.
How To Report a Dog Bite in Orlando
Orange County Animal Services’ instruction is simple: to report a bite or scratch anywhere in Orange County, call 311, and the call center dispatches an Animal Services Officer to investigate. The Department of Health in Orange County also points people to Animal Services’ online reporting form. For an attack in progress or an injury needing an ambulance, call 911 first.
Have this ready when you call:
- Who was bitten and how to reach them.
- The date, time and exact address or park where it happened.
- A description of the dog, and where it lives if you know.
- The owner’s name and contact details, if you have them.
- Whether the dog is still loose.
Ask the officer for the case number. If the owner will not tell you whether the dog is vaccinated, Section 828.30 gives a person who was bitten, or that person’s physician, the right to the information on the dog’s rabies vaccination certificate.
A report starts the observation and creates the record. If you want the dog classified as dangerous, Animal Services requires a sworn affidavit under County Code section 5-32, interviews the owner where possible, and leaves the decision to the division manager. Read what happens after a dog bite is reported and what happens if you don’t report a dog bite.
Who Can Be Held Responsible for an Orlando Dog Bite
- The owner. The bite statute reaches only the owner, as the Florida Supreme Court held in Belcher Yacht. A business can be the owner, as the marina was in that case, where the marina’s own guard dog bit a customer. Licensing records, the rabies certificate and vet bills help prove it. See what determines ownership of a dog.
- A walker, sitter, relative or kennel. Not liable under the statute, but liable in negligence if they knew of the danger and failed to act. Orange County’s leash rule applies to anyone with care, custody or control of the dog, not only the owner.
- A landlord. Under Vasques v. Lopez, a landlord can be liable for a tenant’s dog if it knew of the dog’s presence and vicious propensity and had the ability to control its presence, including a right to end the tenancy. In Orange County, a declared dangerous dog may live in a rental only with the landlord’s written, notarized acknowledgment that a dangerous dog is permitted on the property. If the dog that bit you had that paperwork, ask Animal Services for it.
- A government body. If a City of Orlando or Orange County dog was involved, the claim follows Section 768.28, with a written claim, a waiting period and caps on recovery.
For its own enforcement, the county code defines owner broadly, to include anyone possessing, harboring, keeping or having custody of the dog, and the parent of an owner under 18. That definition decides who answers to Animal Services, not who is the owner under the bite statute. In Huie v. Wipperfurth (1994), a Florida appeals court declined to use the similar state dangerous dog definition for Section 767.04, holding that a kennel caring for a dog was not its owner.
Filing a Dog Bite Claim in Orange County
Orange County is part of Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit, which covers Orange and Osceola Counties. Civil cases are filed with the Orange County Clerk of Courts, whose courthouse is on North Orange Avenue downtown. Which court hears a case depends on its value:
- Small claims: $8,000 or less, excluding costs, interest and attorney fees, filed in County Civil Court. The Clerk accepts small claims at the courthouse and at its Apopka, Ocoee and Winter Park locations, by mail, or through the state e-filing portal.
- County Civil Court: claims up to and including $50,000.
- Circuit Civil Court: claims over $50,000.
When the victim is a child, settlement has its own rules: parents may settle a claim of up to $15,000 themselves, a net settlement above that requires a legal guardianship, and any settlement after a lawsuit is filed needs the court’s approval.
How to file a dog bite claim walks through the process.
Compensation for Orlando Dog Bite Victims
Economic damages: the out of pocket losses, such as emergency care, surgery, later scar revision, rabies shots, counseling, medication, lost wages and reduced earning capacity.
Non-economic damages: pain, scarring, disfigurement and mental anguish. Chapter 768, the part of Florida law that governs negligence damages, caps what a government defendant pays and caps punitive damages, but it sets no dollar cap on noneconomic damages against a private dog owner.
How medical bills are proved changed in 2023. For lawsuits filed after March 24, 2023, Section 768.0427 limits evidence of paid past medical bills to the amount actually paid, regardless of the source of payment. For unpaid bills, the evidence includes what your health plan would pay plus your share; if you are uninsured or on Medicare or Medicaid, it includes 120 percent of the Medicare rate, or 170 percent of the Medicaid rate where there is no Medicare rate. Evidence of reasonable amounts billed is also admissible, and treating under a letter of protection triggers extra disclosures.
Punitive damages: these require clear and convincing evidence of intentional misconduct or gross negligence, and are generally capped at the greater of three times compensatory damages or $500,000.
Against a city or county, there are no punitive damages, and payment is capped at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident unless the Legislature passes a claim bill. A 2026 bill to raise those caps was vetoed on June 30, 2026. For more, read dog bite compensation and our Florida average dog bite settlement page.
Comparative Fault in Florida: The More Than 50 Percent Bar
Section 767.04 says your own negligence that was a proximate cause of the bite reduces the owner’s liability by your percentage of fault. House Bill 837 added a hard stop. Under Section 768.81(6), a party found greater than 50 percent at fault for their own harm recovers nothing. That rule applies to lawsuits filed after March 24, 2023, so it turns on the filing date, not the bite date.
The arithmetic: on a $100,000 verdict, 30 percent fault leaves $70,000, exactly 50 percent leaves $50,000, and 51 percent leaves zero. Section 768.81 defines a negligence action to include claims based on strict liability, so expect the insurer to argue that the bar applies to a bite statute claim.
Provocation is now a fault argument, not an automatic defense. Expect the adjuster to point at anything that looks like teasing, reaching over a fence or approaching a dog that was eating. In Orange County, teasing a dog that was properly confined is itself listed as an ordinance violation. Your best answer is a written account made early, the photographs, and the witnesses.
The sign defense never applies to a victim under 6. On a young child’s own fault, in Swindell v. Hellkamp (1970) the Florida Supreme Court held that, absent a legislative declaration, a child under six is conclusively presumed incapable of contributory negligence. But in Reed v. Bowen (1987) the same court held that the dog bite statute, as then written, overrode that rule, and it let a jury decide whether a four-year-old had provoked the dog. The provocation clause has since been replaced by the bitten person’s comparative negligence, so expect the insurer to argue a young child’s fault, and ask your lawyer how these cases apply. If an adjuster blames your child, read whether a child can provoke a dog.
Statute of Limitations for Orlando Dog Bite Cases
House Bill 837 cut Florida’s negligence deadline from four years to two, now in Section 95.11(5)(a), for causes of action accruing after March 24, 2023.
- Bitten after March 24, 2023: plan on two years from the date of the bite.
- Bitten on or before March 24, 2023: the old four year period applies. Four years from a bite on March 24, 2023 is March 24, 2027, so if your bite was in early 2023, act now.
- A child was bitten: Section 95.051 pauses the clock for a minor only in narrow cases, such as when the child has no parent or guardian or the parent’s interest is adverse, and even then suit must come within seven years. A child living with a parent usually has the same two years.
- The city or county is involved: a written claim to the agency within three years under Section 768.28(6). You generally cannot sue until the claim is denied in writing or six months pass without a final decision.
Section 95.11 still gives four years to an action founded on a statutory liability, and a lawyer could argue a bite statute claim fits. Do not count on that argument. Treat two years as the deadline.
The practical clock is shorter still. The quarantine ends in 10 days, a dog can be rehomed, and a sign can come down. Read more about the dog bite statute of limitations.
Homeowner and Renter Insurance for Orlando Dog Bites
In most Orlando cases the money comes from the dog owner’s homeowners or renters policy, not from the owner’s savings. The Insurance Information Institute says these policies typically cover dog bite liability up to their limits, usually $100,000 to $300,000, with the owner responsible above that.
- Declared dangerous dogs. State law and the Orange County ordinance both require the owner of a declared dangerous dog to carry at least $100,000 of liability coverage for bodily injury the dog causes, and the county requires proof to be filed with Animal Services. If the dog that bit you had been declared dangerous, ask about that policy early.
- Apartments and rentals. A landlord’s or property manager’s commercial policy may also apply if the bite happened in a common area.
- Breed exclusions. The Insurance Information Institute says some insurance companies will not insure homeowners who own certain breeds of dogs. Do not accept the owner’s word that there is no coverage; ask for the carrier’s name and policy number.
One Orange County detail to know about: a declared dangerous dog’s home must post clearly visible bad dog signs at all entry points. Florida’s sign defense turns on a sign with the words Bad Dog, so photograph every sign and where it hangs, and expect the insurer to raise it. The statute withholds that defense from victims under 6 and where the owner’s own negligent act or omission caused the damages.
Why Choose Dog Bite Laws for Your Orlando Case
Dog Bite Laws handles dog attack cases, and an Orlando case is built from county records: the Animal Services bite file and quarantine record, any notice of propensity letter or dangerous dog classification, earlier complaints about the same address, the 311 report, and the hospital chart. We gather those while they still exist and deal with the insurer so you do not have to. Founding attorney Michael Agruss leads the firm, and there is nothing to pay up front.
We also handle cases in Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville. If you or your child was bitten in Orlando, contact us for a free consultation. We will tell you honestly whether you have a claim and how much time is left.
Preguntas frecuentes
To Orange County. Orlando's code adopts the Orange County animal ordinance and makes it effective in the city, and Orange County Animal Services serves every municipality in the county. Call 311 or use the Animal Services online form, and an officer will be sent to investigate. The county then holds the bite file and quarantine record your claim will rely on.
It can be. The county code treats home confinement as an exception for a dog with a current rabies vaccination, approved by health officials. During home quarantine the dog must stay indoors, away from new people and animals, and under supervision, and it cannot be vaccinated until the 10 days end. If the owner fails to confine it, the dog goes to the shelter or a veterinarian for the rest of the period at the owner's expense.
It is a written notice Orange County Animal Services can give a dog owner after a first bite or documented aggressive behavior, so the owner is aware the dog has shown dangerous propensities. The county code now also requires an owner who knows of those propensities to keep the dog in a proper enclosure, whether or not a letter was sent. If one was issued before your bite, get a copy from Animal Services and ask your lawyer how it bears on your case.
Usually not. City Code section 18A.09(v) bars dogs at large on public property in city parks, except inside city approved off leash dog parks, and keeps dogs off city athletic fields. The county code separately requires a leash, cord or chain whenever a dog is off its owner's property. Note the park name, the spot, and whether you were inside a fenced dog park, then report the bite.
With the Orange County Clerk of Courts, in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. A claim of $8,000 or less can go to small claims, County Civil Court hears claims up to $50,000, and Circuit Civil Court hears anything larger. Talks with an insurer generally do not stop the filing deadline from running.
A great deal. The owner was required to keep the dog in an approved enclosure, muzzle it and keep it on a leash no longer than four feet off the property, sterilize and microchip it, and carry at least $100,000 of liability insurance. A declared dangerous dog that bites again without provocation is confiscated, and the owner commits a first degree misdemeanor. Ask Animal Services for the classification file.
Your doctor and the health department decide that, not the dog's owner. In Orange County a dog that bit someone is quarantined for at least 10 days, and the Department of Health in Orange County coordinates treatment with hospitals and local providers. If the dog cannot be found, that changes the medical decision. Orange County's 2025 confirmed animal rabies cases were all bats and raccoons, not dogs, but that is no reason to skip a medical visit.
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