If a dog broke its lead and caused an accident in which I was injured, is the home/dog owner liable for the accident?
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If a dog broke its lead and caused an accident in which I was injured, is the home/dog owner liable for the accident?
If so what can I do? What happened was riding down a street on my motorcycle. A dog ran out of its yard, crossing in front of a parked car and then in front of me. I hit him and crashed. I was deemed not at fault.
Asked on June 2, 2014 under Personal Injury, Michigan
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 10 years ago | Contributor
The owner is most likely not liable. You write that the dog broke its lead; therefore, it appears that the owner was acting reasonably in keeping the dog on a lead, and was not being unreasonably careless, or negligent. The law generally imposes liability only when there is fault (such as unreasonable carelessness/negligence), and not when something bad happens through no fault of anyone; in this case, it appears the dog's owner was not at fault for what happened.
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