Out with the Old, In with the New: Missouri Dog Bite Statute Revised
Missouri’s new dog bite statute, RSMo 273.036, has altered long-standing Missouri law. Prior to the recent enactment of the new Missouri dog bite statute, a Missouri dog bite victim was only allowed to recover compensation for their injuries if they could prove the following elements: 1) the dog must have exhibited dangerous propensities on a prior occasion, 2) the dog owner knew, or should have known of their dog’s prior dangerous propensities, 3) the victim of the dog bite was lawfully on the property of the dog owner, and 4) the victim of the dog bite did not provoke the dog into the attack. Under this old version of Missouri law, a victim of a dog bite in Missouri often had a difficult task in proving the attacking dog had previously demonstrated dangerous or aggressive behavior.
Showing that a dog in Missouri has previously exhibited dangerous propensities presented many hurdles to successfully seeking compensation when bitten. Sometimes this task was accomplished with ease, in the few cases of dogs that had bitten another individual in the past and police or animal control documented the bite. However, in the vast majority of cases, dog bite victims were forced to expend large sums of money investigating the past behavior of a particular dog and dog owner.
Missouri dog bite lawyers were forced to search for any past aggressive behavior of the pet, such as lunging, biting, nipping, snapping, etc. Once a Missouri dog bite victim was able to find evidence of one or more of these prior dangerous propensities, then the act was subject to strict scrutiny through interpretation.
Under the old Missouri dog bite statute, Missouri juries were faced with the often-difficult task of interpreting the dog’s prior behavior to determine whether it rose to the level of a “dangerous propensity”. Juries in Missouri often came to different results when undertaking this task. Some Missouri juries found that instances of lunging or snapping were simply dogs playing, while other Missouri juries came to the conclusion that a dog jumping up on someone did rise to the level of aggressive behavior. These inconsistencies often led to a variety of different results in Missouri dog bite cases. These differences resulted in many people being denied compensation for the injuries they sustained from another’s dog.
The state of Missouri has afforded new protections to dog bite victims. When determining a pet owner’s liability for their dog biting another, some other states adhere to what is commonly called the “One Bite Rule”. Under this rule, if a dog has never bitten anyone before, the dog owner is not liable for the first bite of his or her canine. Missouri dog bite laws have never supported the One Bite Rule outright, however, until recently, Missouri did require a dog bite victim to prove the attacking dog had exhibited a prior ‘dangerous propensity’ in the past, as explained above. The Missouri ‘dangerous propensity’ requirement produced results consistent with the One Bite Rule. Under both scenarios, the first person to suffer harm from an aggressive dog was often denied any compensation for their injuries.
The new Missouri dog bite statute has eliminated the requirement that a victim of a dog bite prove a dog’s prior aggressive behavior. This has placed additional responsibility on dog owners to prevent their pets from injuring other people. Under the new dog bite statute, Missouri dog owners are strictly liable for the physical damages their canine inflicts on others, as well as the damage done to others’ property, if the damage is done without provocation, and while the victim is lawfully on the property.
This new Missouri dog bite statute will protect the public from the first known dangers of another individual’s aggressive dog. No longer will the first person attacked by a dog in Missouri suffer the fate of the denial of their claim simply because they could not show the dog was aggressive before they were bitten. For further information you can visit www.dogbiteclaim.com, email dog bite attorney John Page at john@thepagefirm.com, or call John at (314) 322-8515.
