Wisconsin Dog Bite Lawyer
Wisconsin Dog Bite Lawyer
On This Page
- Wisconsin Dog Bite Law: Strict Liability Under § 174.02
- Wisconsin's Double-Damages Rule: When § 174.02(1)(b) Applies
- Who Counts as an 'Owner' Under Wisconsin Law?
- The Provocation Defense and How Wisconsin Courts Apply It
- The Peaceable-Conduct Requirement and Trespasser Bar
- Comparative Negligence in Wisconsin Dog Bite Cases
- When the Victim Is a Child
- Landlord Liability in Wisconsin Dog Bite Cases
- Statute of Limitations: Three Years in Wisconsin
- Types of Dog Bite Injuries and the Real-World Impact
- What Compensation Can You Recover?
- Damage Caps and the Collateral Source Rule
- Wisconsin Dog Bite Data
- Insurance Rules, Breed Restrictions, and the Pawlowski Multi-Insurer Angle
- Steps to Take Right After a Wisconsin Dog Bite
- Wisconsin County Circuit Courts: Where Dog Bite Cases Get Filed
- Why Wisconsin Victims Choose Dog Bite Laws
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Strict Liability: Wis. Stat. § 174.02(1)(a) makes a dog owner liable for the full amount of damages the dog causes, without any need to prove prior aggression or owner negligence.
- Double Damages: Wis. Stat. 174.02(1)(b) doubles damages when the bite broke the skin and caused permanent scarring or disfigurement, and the owner was notified or knew that the dog had previously, without provocation, bitten a person hard enough to break the skin and cause permanent scarring or disfigurement.
- Owner: Pawlowski v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., holds that anyone who 'harbors' a dog (a co-resident, a friend housing the dog, a business keeping a shop dog) is a statutory owner and can be sued along with their homeowners insurer.
- Comparative Negligence: § 174.02(1)(a) is expressly subject to § 895.045, so Wisconsin's 51% modified comparative fault rule reduces (or bars) recovery when the victim shares blame.
- Statute Of Limitations: Wisconsin gives adults 3 years to sue under § 893.54. A minor has until age 20 under the § 893.16 tolling rule. A government-defendant claim carries a 120-day notice deadline under § 893.80 / § 893.82.
- No Non Economic Cap: Wisconsin does not cap non-economic damages (pain, suffering, scarring, emotional distress) in dog bite cases; the § 655 medical-malpractice cap does not apply.
- Collateral Source: Ellsworth v. Schelbrock, lets Wisconsin plaintiffs recover the reasonable value of their medical care, not just the smaller amount insurance actually paid.
Wisconsin is a strict-liability dog bite state under Wis. Stat. § 174.02, which means a dog owner is liable for the full amount of damages the dog causes, whether the dog has bitten anyone before or not. But Wisconsin goes further than most strict-liability states: if the bite broke the skin and caused permanent scarring or disfigurement and the owner was notified or knew that the dog had previously, without provocation, bitten a person hard enough to break the skin and cause permanent scarring or disfigurement, the damages double under § 174.02(1)(b). That single provision is the biggest recovery lever in Wisconsin dog bite law and the reason a prior-bite investigation drives every serious case.
This page walks through the seventeen things that actually matter in a Wisconsin dog bite claim, from strict liability and double damages to comparative fault, landlord liability, the statute of limitations, damages, insurance, and where Wisconsin cases get filed.
Dog Bite Laws is a national dog bite practice serving injured Wisconsin residents from Milwaukee to Green Bay, Madison to Eau Claire, and every town in between. If a dog attacked you or your child anywhere in Wisconsin, the sections below explain the law in plain English and what to do next.
Wisconsin Dog Bite Law: Strict Liability Under § 174.02
Wisconsin is a strict-liability state. Wis. Stat. § 174.02(1)(a) says that, subject to Wisconsin’s comparative negligence rule, “the owner of a dog is liable for the full amount of damages caused by the dog injuring or causing injury to a person, domestic animal or property.”
That single sentence does three important things for an injured victim:
- No ‘one free bite.’ Unlike common-law states where the first bite is essentially free because the owner cannot be shown to have known the dog was dangerous, Wisconsin holds the owner responsible from bite number one.
- No proof of negligence required. You do not have to show the owner did anything careless. The fence could have been perfect, the leash could have been six feet, and the owner is still liable.
- Full damages, not partial. The statute uses the phrase ‘the full amount of damages,’ which Wisconsin courts read to cover medical bills, lost wages, permanent scarring, and pain and suffering.
The statute reaches beyond biting. Because it covers injuries caused by the dog, an attack that knocks you down, a chase that pushes you into traffic, or a lunging incident that causes a fall all fall inside § 174.02(1)(a). Whether the attack happened in Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, or a small town, this is the framework that governs the claim.
Wisconsin's Double-Damages Rule: When § 174.02(1)(b) Applies
Wisconsin is one of a small number of strict-liability states that also doubles damages in prior-bite cases. Wis. Stat. § 174.02(1)(b) says the owner is liable for two times the full amount of damages when three conditions all line up:
- The current bite broke skin and caused permanent physical scarring or disfigurement;
- The dog had previously, without provocation, bitten another person under the same ‘broken skin plus permanent scarring or disfigurement’ standard; and
- The owner was notified or actually knew about that prior bite.
All three elements have to be there. A prior nip that did not break skin is not enough, a prior bite that healed cleanly with no scar is not enough, a prior bite that was provoked is not enough, and an owner who was never notified of and did not know about the prior bite escapes doubling. But when the elements line up, § 174.02(1)(b) turns a $150,000 case into a $300,000 case and a $500,000 case into a $1 million case, before you even get to comparative fault.
Because the payoff is so large, the case-building priority in every Wisconsin dog bite claim is the prior-bite investigation. Our team pulls:
- Local animal-control bite logs, which we request from the county;
- Prior insurance claim history against the owner and the owner’s homeowners carrier;
- Neighbor and mail-carrier statements about the dog’s history;
- Vet and behavior-training records; and
- Social-media evidence the owner or a friend posted before the bite that shows knowledge of aggression.
Even a single documented earlier bite that hit the ‘broken skin plus permanent scarring’ threshold, plus proof the owner was told about it, can be worth six or seven figures in a serious current-injury case. Do not let an insurance adjuster settle before that record has been pulled.
Note: Wisconsin’s civil forfeiture provisions in § 174.02(2)(a)-(c) are separate from doubling. Those forfeitures ($50 to $2,500, or $200 to $5,000 if the owner was notified or knew the dog had caused an injury before) are civil penalties collected by the government, not damages paid to the victim, and are ‘in addition to any other liability’ the owner has.
Who Counts as an 'Owner' Under Wisconsin Law?
Wisconsin’s dog liability statute reaches further than just the person whose name is on the dog license. In Pawlowski v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that a homeowner who let a friend and his dog live in her house for several months was a statutory ‘owner’ as a harborer, and she and her homeowners insurer were strictly liable when the dog escaped and bit a passerby, even though she did not legally own the dog. The court adopted the rule that ‘a person who harbors a dog is one who affords lodging, to shelter or to give refuge to a dog.’
That definition sweeps in more defendants (and, more importantly, more insurance policies) than most people expect:
- The registered owner on the dog license or vet records.
- A co-resident who let the dog live in the home.
- A dog walker, sitter, or boarding facility that had physical custody at the time of the bite.
- A business that treats a dog as its own on the premises (the classic shop-dog situation).
- A host who was watching the dog for the weekend.
We map out every adult who lived at the address in the months before the bite. If the legal owner is uninsured or judgment-proof, a co-resident harborer (and their insurer) is on the hook under Pawlowski. Our team’s guide on what determines ownership of a dog walks through the factors Wisconsin courts and insurers look at.
The Provocation Defense and How Wisconsin Courts Apply It
Provocation is the defense insurance carriers raise most often in Wisconsin dog bite cases, and it appears in both prongs of § 174.02(1). Doubled damages under § 174.02(1)(b) only apply if the prior bite happened ‘without provocation,’ and the general strict-liability rule of § 174.02(1)(a) is still tied through § 895.045 to comparative fault, which is where post-bite provocation arguments get played.
Wisconsin courts have read provocation narrowly. It is not enough that the victim was near the dog, made a sudden movement, or startled the animal. Provocation generally means some voluntary act a reasonable person would expect to upset a dog, striking it, kicking it, cornering it, or hurting one of its puppies. Petting, walking past, ringing the doorbell, or handing over a package is not provocation.
Insurance defense lawyers will still argue provocation in almost every case, hoping to shave the settlement or shift some fault. Two facts blunt the defense fastest:
- A clean statement to responding officers describing what you were doing when the dog attacked; and
- A witness (a neighbor, a delivery colleague, a passerby) who saw the incident and can confirm the victim did nothing to provoke it.
Both should be locked in during the first few days after the bite, before memories fade.
The Peaceable-Conduct Requirement and Trespasser Bar
Wisconsin’s strict-liability statute does not have the explicit ‘lawfully present’ text that some states put in their dog bite laws, but Wisconsin courts have used common-law public-policy factors to reach the same result in trespasser and unusual-entry cases. The Wisconsin Supreme Court laid out the framework in Fandrey ex rel. Connell v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co..
In Fandrey, a mother and her three-year-old daughter entered a homeowner’s house without express permission to drop off cookies, and the homeowner’s dog bit the child. The court affirmed summary judgment for the insurer. Even though § 174.02 is a strict-liability rule, three of the six traditional common-law public-policy factors barred recovery: liability would be out of proportion to the owner’s culpability, would impose an unreasonable burden on dog owners, and would have no sensible stopping point.
What that means in plain English:
- Postal workers, delivery drivers, meter readers, invited guests, contractors, kids playing in a yard they were invited into, and people walking on public sidewalks are almost always protected under § 174.02.
- A person who climbed a fence into a private yard without permission, or entered a home uninvited, may still see a Fandrey-based public-policy defense.
- The line between ‘implied permission’ and ‘uninvited entry’ is fact-heavy. A friendly neighbor who normally walks in through the back door is treated very differently than a stranger who does the same thing.
Comparative Negligence in Wisconsin Dog Bite Cases
Wis. Stat. § 174.02(1)(a) is expressly ‘subject to s. 895.045,’ Wisconsin’s modified comparative negligence rule. That means even in a strict-liability dog bite case, the owner’s insurer can argue you were partly to blame and try to shrink or kill the recovery.
Wisconsin follows a 51% bar. Under § 895.045(1):
- If your own negligence is 50% or less, you still recover, but the award is reduced by your percentage of fault.
- If your own negligence is 51% or more, you recover nothing.
- A 50/50 split is not a bar; the plaintiff still gets 50% of the damages.
Worked example. A Milwaukee jury finds a Wisconsin dog bite victim suffered $200,000 in damages and assigns 30% of the fault to the victim (for stepping into a fenced yard to retrieve a delivery). The victim recovers $200,000 minus 30%, or $140,000. If the jury had assigned 55% of the fault to the victim, the recovery would be zero.
Common defense arguments Wisconsin insurers raise to bump up the plaintiff’s percentage:
- The victim ignored a posted ‘beware of dog’ sign.
- The victim entered a fenced area without permission.
- The victim teased or approached the dog in a way the defense calls unreasonable.
- The victim continued to try to pet the dog after a growl or a warning.
None of those facts automatically win the argument for the defense, but they are why building a clean witness record on day one matters so much.
When the Victim Is a Child
Children are the most common dog bite victims in the United States, and Wisconsin law protects them with a longer filing deadline. Under Wis. Stat. § 893.16(1), when a person entitled to bring an action is under 18 at the time the cause of action accrues, the action may be commenced within 2 years after the disability ceases. Because the age of majority in Wisconsin is 18, that means a child bitten in Wisconsin has until their 20th birthday to file suit.
Two nuances matter:
- The § 893.16 tolling cannot shorten the normal 3-year statute of limitations under § 893.54. Under § 893.16(2), the toll only extends the ordinary period. Practical rule: for a minor, the deadline is the later of (a) 3 years from the bite under § 893.54, or (b) the 20th birthday under § 893.16. For a young child that will be the 20th birthday; for a 16-year-old that will be 3 years from the bite.
- Parents almost always file long before the 20th birthday. Waiting years to file loses witnesses, medical records, and the ability to document the dog’s history.
Wisconsin courts are cautious about applying the provocation defense to young children whose reactions to a dog are age-appropriate. Because kids often suffer facial scarring that stays with them for life, damage awards in child cases can be substantial. Facial reconstruction, plastic surgery, orthodontia work if the bite involved the mouth, and future scar revision procedures all price into the claim.
Landlord Liability in Wisconsin Dog Bite Cases
Wisconsin draws a careful line between a landlord who is simply renting to a tenant with a dog and a landlord who has crossed into being a keeper or harborer. The Wisconsin Supreme Court clarified the distinction in Augsburger v. Homestead Mut. Ins. Co., holding that a property owner who let family members and their dogs live in a house he owned, while he lived somewhere else, did not harbor the dogs and so was not a statutory ‘owner’ under § 174.02.
Two useful contrasts:
- Under Pawlowski, a co-resident who shelters another person’s dog IS a statutory harborer and IS strictly liable.
- – Under Augsburger, a property owner who does not live with the dogs and does not keep or shelter them is NOT.
A Wisconsin landlord can still be pulled into a case on a common-law negligence theory: actual knowledge that a tenant’s dog was dangerous, ability to remove the dog or the tenant, and a failure to act. Common areas (a shared hallway, a laundry room, a courtyard) matter because the landlord retains control there. Rental buildings in Milwaukee, apartment complexes in Madison, and duplexes in Green Bay all raise these questions.
Even when strict liability against a landlord is off the table, we still pull the landlord’s insurance policy and endorsements. A prior written complaint, an unenforced lease clause about aggressive breeds, or the landlord’s own feeding or boarding of the animal can flip the case.
Statute of Limitations: Three Years in Wisconsin
Wisconsin gives adult dog bite victims three years to file a lawsuit under Wis. Stat. § 893.54. Miss the deadline, and the case is almost always dead no matter how strong the underlying facts are.
A few exceptions and edge cases matter:
- Minors. The § 893.16 tolling rule usually pushes a child’s deadline to age 20.
- Discovery rule. The clock runs from when the plaintiff discovered, or should have discovered, both the injury and its probable cause. In an ordinary bite the injury is obvious the day it happens, but this can matter for delayed-onset infections.
- Government defendants. If the defendant is the State of Wisconsin (§ 893.82) or a municipal or local government (§ 893.80), you generally have to file a written notice of injury within 120 days. Damage caps apply: $250,000 against the state and $50,000 against a municipality.
Three years sounds like a lot, but Wisconsin dog bite cases are built on evidence that fades fast. Photograph the wounds, keep the medical records, and talk to a lawyer within weeks of the bite, not years.
Types of Dog Bite Injuries and the Real-World Impact
Dog bite injuries do not fit into a single category, and the medical picture drives the value of the claim as much as the law does. In Wisconsin cases we see:
- Puncture wounds. Small on the surface but often deep. They seal quickly and trap bacteria, which is why infection is the most common complication.
- Lacerations and avulsion (tearing) injuries. When a dog shakes its head with its jaws locked, tissue tears. These wounds usually need layered surgical closure and, often, later reconstructive work.
- Scarring and disfigurement. Facial scars are the most consequential, especially for children, and are frequently permanent even after skilled plastic surgery. Scarring is also the door to § 174.02(1)(b) doubled damages if a prior bite meeting the same standard is proven.
- Nerve damage. A bite to the hand, forearm, or face can sever nerves and leave lasting numbness, weakness, or chronic pain.
- Infection. Pasteurella multocida and Capnocytophaga canimorsus can turn a small wound into a hospital admission. Every Wisconsin dog bite is a rabies exposure question until proven otherwise.
- Psychological injury. PTSD, sleep disruption, and fear of dogs (cynophobia) are common, especially in children.
Without a claim, the out-of-pocket cost of a serious bite easily runs into the tens of thousands.
What Compensation Can You Recover?
Wisconsin’s dog bite statute entitles you to ‘the full amount of damages caused by the dog.’ In practice, a Wisconsin dog bite recovery covers every category of harm a jury can put a number on:
- Emergency and hospital care. ER visit, imaging, wound irrigation and closure, tetanus and rabies post-exposure prophylaxis, and any inpatient stay.
- Surgical and reconstructive care. Plastic surgery, scar revision, nerve repair, and future procedures that may not be finished for years.
- Rehabilitation. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, and pain management.
- Lost wages and lost earning capacity. Missed work in the short term and, in serious cases, reduced ability to do the same job long-term.
- Pain and suffering. Physical pain, emotional distress, PTSD, sleep loss.
- Permanent scarring and disfigurement. A separate line item in Wisconsin damages practice and often a large one, especially for facial or child cases.
- Loss of consortium. For a spouse when the injury interferes with the marital relationship.
- Doubled damages. Under § 174.02(1)(b) when the prior-bite elements line up.
Wisconsin also allows plaintiffs to recover the reasonable value of their medical care, not just the discounted amount insurance actually paid. That comes from the collateral source rule and is discussed in the next section.
Damage Caps and the Collateral Source Rule
Two Wisconsin rules work in your favor when it comes to what a dog bite case is worth.
No cap on non-economic damages. Wisconsin does not cap pain and suffering, emotional distress, or disfigurement damages in ordinary personal injury cases. The Chapter 655 / Wis. Stat. § 893.55 cap that applies to medical malpractice does NOT apply to dog bite claims. Whatever the evidence supports, the jury can award.
Collateral source rule. Wisconsin follows the collateral source rule. Damages a defendant owes are not reduced because the plaintiff was reimbursed by health insurance, sick leave, or some other source. And under Ellsworth v. Schelbrock, you recover the reasonable value of your medical services, not just the discounted amount insurance actually paid. The insurance company cannot use those write-offs to shrink your medical damages.
Government-defendant exception. Damages against the State of Wisconsin are capped at $250,000 under § 893.82 / § 895.46, and damages against a municipality are capped at $50,000 under § 893.80(3). These caps and the accompanying 120-day notice windows can shut a case down if not preserved on day one. They rarely matter in ordinary neighbor-dog cases.
Medical liens and the made-whole doctrine. Your health insurer or Medicaid can ask to be paid back out of your settlement for the bills they covered. Wisconsin’s made-whole rule (from the Rimes decision) limits or eliminates that payback when your settlement does not fully cover your losses. We use it so a partial-value settlement is not eaten up by a full-value reimbursement.
Wisconsin Dog Bite Data
Wisconsin does not make animal bites a statewide notifiable disease, so a single comprehensive ‘annual dog bites in Wisconsin’ number is not published by the state. The best-available Wisconsin-specific figures come from two places:
- The Wisconsin Department of Health Services WISH injury system, which counts hospital-treated injuries by ICD-10 external-cause code (dog bite is W54.0). WISH tracks emergency-department visits and hospitalizations separately. WISH ED-visit query and WISH hospitalization query.
- Local animal-control bite logs, which providers, veterinarians, and animal-control officers file after a bite. These are the most useful records for a specific case because they document the individual dog’s history and can prove up the ‘owner knew’ element for § 174.02(1)(b).
For national context, a CDC report cited an estimated 4.7 million dog bites in the U.S. in 1994, with about 800,000 people needing medical care, and CDC says nearly 1 in 5 people bitten by a dog needs medical attention. A CDC report estimated that U.S. hospital emergency departments treated about 368,000 people for dog bite injuries in 2001, and about 98 percent of them were treated and released. That CDC report also found that children ages 5 to 9 had the highest rate of dog bite injuries, and that most injuries to children under 4 were to the head or neck.
The U.S. Postal Service also publishes an annual dog attack ranking by city. In the ranking the Postal Service released in 2026, Milwaukee had 20 dog attacks on mail carriers in 2025. The rank and count change every year.
Insurance Rules, Breed Restrictions, and the Pawlowski Multi-Insurer Angle
Most Wisconsin dog bite claims are paid by the dog owner’s homeowners insurance or renters insurance, not out of the owner’s pocket. Standard HO-3 and HO-4 policies in Wisconsin include personal liability coverage (usually $100,000 to $300,000) and medical payments to others ($1,000 to $5,000). Umbrella policies, typically starting at $1 million, stack on top and matter in serious-injury cases.
Breed exclusions. Wisconsin does not ban breed-based insurance underwriting. Some carriers still maintain a restricted-breeds list (pit bull, Rottweiler, Doberman, Chow, Akita, wolf hybrid) and will refuse coverage, exclude the dog by endorsement, or drop the policy if the breed is disclosed. Other national carriers, including State Farm, have moved to individualized underwriting based on the dog’s actual bite history. Every case needs a policy pull, not an assumption.
The ‘one-bite‘ endorsement. Many Wisconsin homeowners policies contain an animal-liability exclusion that eliminates coverage AFTER a first reported bite, or excludes a specifically named dog. We always request the full declarations page and the endorsements schedule, not just the coverage letter.
The Pawlowski multi-insurer angle. Because a ‘harborer’ is a statutory owner under Pawlowski v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., a serious-injury victim may have two homeowners policies to pursue, one for the legal owner and one for the co-resident harborer. In a large-damages case this doubles the effective coverage. We identify every adult who lived at the address in the months before the bite.
Steps to Take Right After a Wisconsin Dog Bite
What you do in the first 24 to 72 hours has a bigger effect on the value of a Wisconsin dog bite case than almost anything that happens later. In order:
- Get medical care immediately. Even a small puncture can drive bacteria deep into tissue. An ER or urgent-care visit also creates the earliest medical record tying the injury to the bite.
- Report the bite to local animal control. Many Wisconsin cities require dog bites to be reported so the animal can be checked for rabies. Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services says bite reports can go to the local health department or to law enforcement. This report is often the single most important piece of paper in the case, especially for a future § 174.02(1)(b) doubling argument.
- Photograph everything. The wounds that day and every few days as they heal, the scene, torn clothing, the dog, and the property. Include a ruler or a coin for scale.
- Get the owner’s name, address, phone number, and homeowners or renters insurance carrier. If the owner refuses, animal control usually can obtain it.
- Collect witness contact information from anyone who saw the attack or knew the dog’s prior behavior.
- Ask about prior bites. Neighbors, mail carriers, and delivery drivers often know a dog’s history. This is where § 174.02(1)(b) cases are built.
- Save every bill, receipt, and prescription. Keep a simple pain and missed-work journal.
- Do not give a recorded statement to any insurance company before speaking with a Wisconsin dog bite lawyer.
Wisconsin County Circuit Courts: Where Dog Bite Cases Get Filed
If a Wisconsin dog bite claim does not settle with the owner’s insurance company, the lawsuit is filed in the circuit court of the county where the bite happened, or where the dog owner lives. You will not be filing it yourself. Your lawyer prepares the paperwork, files it, serves the owner, and tracks every deadline. What matters to you is knowing which court will hear the case and what that means for timing.
For the cities we serve, that means Milwaukee County Circuit Court for Milwaukee, Franklin, Greenfield, Oak Creek, Wauwatosa, and West Allis; Dane County for Madison; Brown County for Green Bay; Outagamie County for Appleton; Racine County for Racine; Kenosha County for Kenosha; Waukesha County for Waukesha, Brookfield, and New Berlin; Winnebago County for Oshkosh; Rock County for Janesville and Beloit; La Crosse County for La Crosse; Sheboygan County for Sheboygan; Fond du Lac County for Fond du Lac; Marathon County for Wausau; and Eau Claire County for Eau Claire.
Wisconsin small claims court only handles personal injury claims of $5,000 or less, and a serious bite with stitches, scarring, or a child victim is almost always worth more than that, so it is filed as a regular civil case. Most cases still resolve with the insurance carrier before trial. Filing suit is often what moves a stalled adjuster to make a fair offer, especially when the file supports a double-damages claim.
Why Wisconsin Victims Choose Dog Bite Laws
Dog Bite Laws is a focused dog bite practice representing injured people across Wisconsin, from Milwaukee and Madison to Green Bay, Appleton, Kenosha, Racine, Waukesha, and Oshkosh.
- Dog bite claims under § 174.02 are a core practice area, not a sideline. We know where the case value lives (the § 174.02(1)(b) doubling analysis, the Pawlowski multi-insurer angle, the collateral source rule) and we build cases with those levers in mind from day one.
- We run the prior-bite investigation early: animal-control records, neighbor interviews, prior claims, and social-media evidence. Doubling under § 174.02(1)(b) is often the difference between a mid-five-figure settlement and a mid-six-figure one.
- We work on contingency: no attorney fee unless we recover for you. Case reviews are free.
Contact us for a free Wisconsin dog bite case review, or read about Michael Agruss first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Three years for adults under Wis. Stat. § 893.54. Children have until their 20th birthday under the § 893.16 tolling rule (2 years past the age of majority). Claims against a state or municipal government have a much shorter 120-day notice deadline under § 893.80 or § 893.82 and are capped in amount, so a public-defendant case has to move fast.
Wis. Stat. § 174.02(1)(b) doubles the owner's liability when three things are all true: (1) the current bite broke skin and caused permanent scarring or disfigurement, (2) the dog had previously, without provocation, bitten another person under the same 'broken skin plus permanent scarring' standard, and (3) the owner was notified or knew about that earlier bite. If those three line up, a $200,000 case becomes a $400,000 case, before comparative fault is applied.
Yes. Under Pawlowski v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that a person who 'harbors' a dog by giving it lodging or shelter is a statutory owner under § 174.02. That means a co-resident, a friend housing the dog, or a business keeping a shop dog can all be sued, and their homeowners policies can be tapped alongside the legal owner's.
No. Wisconsin does not cap non-economic damages in ordinary personal injury cases, and dog bite claims fall in that ordinary category. The Chapter 655 / Wis. Stat. § 893.55 cap that applies to medical malpractice does not apply. Whatever the evidence supports for pain, suffering, disfigurement, and emotional distress, a Wisconsin jury can award.
No. Wisconsin follows the collateral source rule, and under Ellsworth v. Schelbrock, you recover the reasonable value of your medical services, not just the discounted amount insurance actually paid. The insurance company cannot use those write-offs to shrink your medical damages. This gives Wisconsin plaintiffs a real value advantage over states that have abolished the rule.
No. Wisconsin has a separate court-ordered euthanasia process under Wis. Stat. § 174.02(3) that lets the state, a municipality, or an injured person (or the parent of an injured child) ask a court to order a dog humanely killed after it seriously injures a person or domestic animal on two separate occasions off the owner's property. That is a public-safety remedy, not part of a personal injury lawsuit. Whether the dog is quarantined or destroyed is a decision local animal control and the court make, and it is separate from the victim's civil claim for damages.
Wisconsin's statute covers a dog 'injuring or causing injury,' not just biting. If a dog jumped on you, chased you into traffic, or lunged and caused you to fall, § 174.02(1)(a) can still apply, and your injuries (broken bones, head trauma, torn ligaments) are compensable just like a bite would be. The Alwin v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., decision limits the reach of the statute where a dog is completely passive (a guest who tripped over a dog sleeping on the floor), but ordinary active-dog conduct that causes an injury is inside § 174.02.
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