New Ruling Expands Legal Rights of Dog Bite Victims
New York State’s highest court issues a landmark decision overturning 20-year legal precedent and expanding the legal rights of dog bite victims by ruling that owners of dogs and other domestic animals can be held civilly responsible for harm caused by their pets due to negligence.
In 2006, in the case of Bard v. Jahnke, the New York State Court of Appeals, New York State’s highest Court, issued a ruling that significantly limited a victim’s right to seek justice if they had been harmed by a dog or other domestic animal. The Court ruled that the owner of a domestic animal, including a dog, cannot be held liable for negligence when their pet causes harm to others. Instead, dog bite victims in New York were required to meet a tough legal threshold. They were required to prove that the dog had “vicious propensities” and that the owner knew—or should have known—about those propensities. This often made it extremely difficult for victims to get justice, especially in first-time bite cases where no prior aggression could be demonstrated.
The Bard ruling set a precedent that was applied for nearly 20 years in New York State, significantly limiting the extent that pet owners could be held accountable for harm that their dog or other domestic animal caused to victims. The Bard rule played out to permit one free “bad act.” Whether it be biting, jumping, or running in the street, the owner could not be held civilly responsible unless the injured party could prove the owner was aware the dog had a history of problems. This proved extremely difficult for injured victims, who often have little or no information about the dog or its prior history. An owner who said, “The dog has never done that before!” had a strong defense to a claim.
However, on April 17, 2025, in the case of Flanders v. Goodfellow, the New York Court of Appeals overruled Bard, and reinstated traditional negligence standards ruling that owners of dogs and other domestic animals can be held responsible for harm caused by their pets due to negligence. In the Flanders decision, the Court of Appeals referred to the 2006 Bard decision as “unworkable and in some circumstances unfair.” The Court went on to state that the rule of nonliability set by the Bard precedent is “out of tune” with modern-day needs. “We conclude that the time has come to set aside Bard’s rule that an owner of a domestic animal may not be held liable in negligence for harms caused by their animal.”
Based on the April 2025 Flanders ruling, victims of an injury caused by domestic animals now have two options to approach owner liability in New York:
- Victims of an animal-induced injury can recover damages if the owner of the animal knew or should have known that the animal had “vicious propensities;” or
- Victims of an animal-induced injury can recover damages if the owner of the animal was negligent and failed to exercise due care under the circumstances that caused the injury.
The Flanders decision overturned nearly 20 years of precedent that was set by the 2006 Bard decision. Under the new ruling, courts will now consider whether the dog owner acted reasonably to prevent the attack. This means victims can bring forward a negligence claim by showing the pet owner failed to take proper precautions—such as leashing the dog, responding to signs of aggression, or taking other preventative steps. Dog bite victims will no longer need to prove a dog’s violent history to hold its owner accountable. The ruling places a greater obligation on dog owners to ensure dogs are properly restrained in public and private spaces, to monitor their pet’s behavior, and take proactive measures to prevent foreseeable harm to others. By shifting the focus from the dog’s past to the owner’s conduct, the Court made clear that preventable harm should not go unpunished simply because the animal had a clean record.
The Flanders decision, by the New York Court of Appeals, marks a major departure from the State’s long-standing approach to dog bite liability, and it dramatically expands the legal rights of victims seeking compensation.
Injured by a dog or other domestic pet?
At Harding Mazzotti, LLP, our legal professionals have decades of experience fighting for those harmed in dog bite cases. Call us and an experienced dog bite lawyer will review your case free of charge. Contact us today at 1-800-LAW-1010, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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