Available 24/7
Available 24/7
A serious dog attack in Iowa can mean emergency surgery, permanent scarring, lost wages, and lasting trauma. Iowa’s dog bite law imposes strict liability on owners: under Iowa Code § 351.28, an owner is liable for all damages their dog causes when it attacks or attempts to bite a person, without any need to prove the dog had a history of aggression.
That victim-friendly rule still leaves plenty for insurers to fight over — causation, damages, and the statute’s narrow exceptions. At Dog Bite Laws, we hold negligent owners and their insurers accountable so Iowa victims recover the full compensation the law allows — medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering.
Economic damages are the direct, measurable financial losses caused by the attack. These include emergency room bills, hospitalization costs, surgery fees (including reconstructive or plastic surgery for scarring), follow-up medical appointments, prescribed medications, wound care, and physical therapy or rehabilitation. If injuries require ongoing treatment, future medical expenses are also recoverable.
Lost wages cover income you missed during recovery. If the injuries affect your ability to work long-term, for example, nerve damage to your hands, or PTSD that prevents you returning to your previous role, loss of future earning capacity can also be claimed. These figures are typically supported by employer records, tax returns, and expert testimony.
Non-economic damages cover the human cost of the attack. Pain and suffering accounts for the physical discomfort experienced during and after the injury. Emotional distress covers anxiety, depression, nightmares, and the lasting fear of dogs that many victims develop, particularly children. PTSD is common after dog attacks and has real, documentable medical value in a claim.
Permanent scarring or disfigurement carries significant weight, especially when it is visible on the face, neck, or hands. Loss of enjoyment covers activities the victim can no longer participate in due to physical or psychological limitations. Loss of consortium may be claimed by a spouse or family member when the attack meaningfully disrupts the victim’s relationships and family life.
If the victim is a minor, parents or legal guardians can file on their behalf for both economic and non-economic damages. Claims involving children often reach higher values due to the long-term duration of disfigurement and the psychological impact that can follow a child into adulthood.
With dog bite cases, punitive damages do not apply. They are reserved for situations where the dog owner’s conduct was especially reckless or malicious. For example, knowingly keeping a dog with a documented history of attacks without any precautions, or allowing an aggressive dog to roam free in a populated area after prior warnings. When punitive damages are available, they can significantly increase total recovery above compensatory amounts.
Several factors shape the final settlement value. The severity of the injury such as a deep facial wound requiring multiple surgeries, can settle for far more than a bite that heals cleanly. The visibility of scarring, the victim’s age, available insurance coverage, quality of medical documentation, and strength of the liability argument all play a role.
Our team has recovered over $1M in individual dog bite settlements. See real case results including a $505,000 settlement for a facial bite and a $295,000 recovery for a three-year-old victim. For a quick estimate of your own case value, use our dog bite settlement calculator.
The steps you take in the first 24 to 48 hours after a dog bite directly affect your ability to recover full compensation. Evidence disappears fast and early mistakes can be used against you.
Contact a Iowa dog bite lawyer before accepting any settlement offer. Early offers typically undervalue long-term medical costs and non-economic damages. Once you accept, you generally cannot reopen the claim.
Iowa gives dog bite victims two years from the date of the attack to file a personal injury lawsuit (Iowa Code § 614.1(2)). For children injured by a dog, the deadline is generally extended, but you should never assume extra time applies to your case.
Two years can pass quickly while you focus on recovery. Medical records must be gathered, insurance coverage identified, responsible parties confirmed, and evidence preserved before it disappears. Contacting an attorney early protects both your health and your claim.
Dog bite settlements are paid through the dog owner’s homeowners or renters insurance policy. Standard homeowners policies typically include personal liability coverage between $100,000 and $300,000, and that coverage applies to dog bite incidents even when the attack happens away from the insured property. If the bite occurred at a rental property, the landlord’s policy may also apply.
Insurance companies will work to minimize what they pay. They may claim the bite was provoked, challenge the severity of injuries, or dispute liability. Having a dog bite lawyer handle all communication with the insurer protects your claim from being undervalued before you fully understand the scope of your damages.
Iowa’s dog bite statute, Iowa Code § 351.28, makes the owner of a dog liable to an injured party for all damages done by the dog when the dog is attacking or attempting to bite a person. The victim does not have to prove the dog had bitten anyone before or that the owner knew the dog was dangerous — only that the owner’s dog attacked or tried to bite and caused physical injury.
The statute’s exceptions are narrow. Its central carve-out is that the owner is not liable when the injured party was doing an unlawful act that directly contributed to the injury — for example, trespassing or committing a crime at the time. Separately, the statute does not apply to a dog affected with rabies (hydrophobia) unless the owner had reasonable grounds to know of the condition and could have prevented the harm.
Because the biggest defense under § 351.28 is that the victim was committing an unlawful act that directly contributed to the attack, insurers often try to recast an innocent visitor as a trespasser or wrongdoer. Establishing that you were lawfully present and doing nothing wrong is frequently the key issue in an Iowa case.
The rabies carve-out shifts a bite by a rabid dog out of strict liability and into ordinary negligence, where the victim must show the owner knew the dog had rabies and failed to get it treated in time. These cases are fact-intensive, and preserving veterinary and animal-control records early is essential.
For a full breakdown of the laws, liability rules, and reporting requirements, see our dedicated Iowa dog bite laws guide.
Where the strict-liability statute does not apply — for instance, a bite by a dog known to be rabid — an Iowa victim can still recover through an ordinary negligence claim. Negligence requires proving that the owner owed a duty to control the dog, breached that duty, and that the breach proximately caused the injuries.
A violation of a local leash law or animal-control ordinance can also support a claim of negligence per se, where the owner’s breaking of a safety law is treated as evidence of negligence itself. We investigate every available theory to maximize your recovery.
The dog’s owner is the primary defendant in most Iowa cases, but responsibility can extend further. A keeper or harborer who cared for the dog, a landlord who knew a dangerous dog lived on the property and did nothing, or a parent of a minor owner may all share liability.
Identifying every responsible party matters because it can open additional insurance coverage — often the difference between a policy that fully covers your injuries and one that falls short.
The defense insurers raise most often under § 351.28 is that the victim was committing an unlawful act — usually trespassing — that directly contributed to the attack. Ordinary lawful conduct like walking on a sidewalk, making a delivery, or visiting as an invited guest is not an unlawful act, and we push back hard on inflated versions of events.
Iowa applies modified comparative fault with a 51% bar under Iowa Code § 668.3. You can still recover unless your share of the fault is greater than the combined fault of the defendants — but if it is, you recover nothing, and any award is reduced by your percentage of fault. Countering an insurer’s attempt to shift blame — with witness statements, medical evidence, and a clear account of what happened — is where experienced representation pays off.
Dog attacks are a serious and rising cost nationwide: U.S. insurers paid about $1.86 billion across 28,450 dog-related injury claims, an average of roughly $65,450 per claim, and more than 5,200 postal workers were attacked by dogs in 2025. Iowa ranks among the six states with the highest rate of dog attacks on postal workers in the nation — a Midwestern cluster (with Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio) where carriers face well-above-average risk (NBC News analysis of USPS data, 2024).
Iowa’s strict-liability rule under § 351.28 is one of the oldest and most owner-unfriendly in the country, reflecting the state’s long-standing policy of protecting bite victims.
Iowa’s dog laws also require rabies vaccination and empower local boards of health to order confinement or impoundment of a biting dog. Records generated through that process — bite reports, quarantine orders, and prior complaints — can strengthen a victim’s civil claim.
Dog Bite Laws is led by Michael Agruss, Managing Partner and personal injury attorney with a track record of results in dog bite cases. He is supported by Michael Bertucci, Taylor Kosla Unterberg, and Zara Saiyed, a team that handles dog bite cases across Iowa and multiple other states.
The firm has recovered millions of dollars for dog bite victims. These results reflect the firm’s approach: identify every liable party, document every dollar of damages, and push for a full settlement before resorting to trial.
The team is available 24/7 and takes every case on a contingency basis. There are no upfront legal fees and no costs unless we win.
Read more client testimonials or contact us directly for a free, confidential case review.
Iowa’s statute of limitations for personal injury is two years from the date of the bite under Iowa Code § 614.1(2). Claims involving children may have more time, but missing the deadline generally ends your right to recover. See our full Iowa dog bite laws guide for detail on how deadlines are calculated.
No. Iowa imposes strict liability under Iowa Code § 351.28, so you do not have to show the dog had a history of aggression or that the owner knew it was dangerous. You need only show the owner’s dog attacked or attempted to bite you and caused physical injury, and that you were not committing an unlawful act that contributed to the attack.
Iowa follows modified comparative fault with a 51% bar. You can still recover unless your share of the fault is greater than the combined fault of the defendants, though any recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault. If your fault exceeds theirs, you recover nothing — which is why insurers try to shift blame onto victims, and why having a lawyer protect your account matters.
Iowa’s strict-liability statute does not apply to a dog affected with rabies (hydrophobia). Instead, the claim proceeds as a negligence case, and you must show the owner had reasonable grounds to know the dog was rabid and could have prevented the injury. These cases turn on veterinary and animal-control records, which we work quickly to preserve.
Nothing up front. We handle Iowa dog bite cases on contingency — you pay no fee unless we recover money for you. Your case review is free, and you can reach us by call, text, email, or chat 24/7.
"*" indicates required fields
"*" indicates required fields
Contact us via call, email, text, or chat to discuss your case.