Mark Vatch, attorney, at the firm's Miami office

Florida dog bite claims — and nothing else

Florida law is on your side. The dog owner’s insurer knows it.

Under Florida Statute § 767.04 a dog owner is liable the first time their dog bites — no prior history required, no “one free bite.”

But Florida wrote two escape routes into that same sentence, and an adjuster will use both. Know what they are before you talk to them.

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Mark Vatch, Florida BarResponsible for this site's content. Office in Miami, FL.
We know this lawYou don’t have to. Florida dog bite claims are what this firm handles.

2ndFlorida’s national rank for dog bite insurance claims

2,347Florida claims in 2025

$146MPaid on Florida claims in 2025

2 yearsTo file, from the day you were bitten

Insurance Information Institute & State Farm, 2025 data, published April 2026.

What most Florida victims are never told

The statute that helps you also hands the owner two defenses

1. Your own share of fault comes straight off the top

Section 767.04 says any negligence on your part that helped cause the bite reduces the owner’s liability by that percentage. And since 2023, a victim found more than 50% at fault may recover nothing at all. That is why an adjuster asks what you were doing.

How the percentage actually gets decided →

2. A sign can wipe out liability entirely

An owner who displayed a readable sign reading “Bad Dog”may not be liable at all. Three things break that defense — and the first is that it does nothing against a child under six.

What defeats the sign defense →

Not every claim is a bite claim

A dog that knocked you down still caused damage under Florida law

Most states leave you with a negligence case if a dog charged you, tripped you, or knocked you off a bike without ever breaking skin. Florida has a second statute for exactly that: § 767.01 makes an owner liable for any damage their dog does to a person. If you were told you have no case because you weren’t bitten, that advice was wrong.

Non-bite injury claims

What this firm handles

Four situations, one statute

Florida law treats these differently, and the difference is usually where a claim is won or quietly lost. Each one has its own page.

How this works

Three steps, and the first one costs nothing

Call, or send us what happenedFree, and there is no obligation at the end of it. You do not need documents or a theory — just what happened and roughly when.
We read the statute against your factsWhere you were standing, what the dog did, whether there was a sign, who owned the property. Florida law turns on those details.
We tell you plainly where you standIncluding if the answer is that you do not need us. If you do, the insurer deals with this office from then on, not with you.

Nothing on this page is a prediction about any case. Every claim turns on its own facts.

Mark VatchFlorida Bar. Responsible for the content of this website. Office in Miami, FL.

Statewide

Florida dog bite claims, county by county

Dog bite law is state law, but animal control, bite reporting, and the county court you file in are all local.

Before you call

The questions people ask first

All 40 questions →

The clock started the day you were bitten

Florida gives you two years. Evidence goes stale much faster than that — wounds heal, witnesses move, and animal control files close.

Start a Free Case Review