Florida Dog Bite Law FirmBroward sits between two much-discussed neighbours and gets less written about it than either. It also held one half of a piece of Florida legal history that ended in 2023.
The Sunrise ordinance, and why it lasted so long
When Florida restricted breed-specific local regulation, it exempted ordinances adopted before October 1, 1990. Exactly two survived on that basis: Miami-Dade County’s pit bull ban, and the City of Sunrise’s 1989 ordinance requiring “pit bull dogs” to be securely penned or muzzled.
House Bill 941 removed the grandfather clause effective October 1, 2023. Section 767.14 now allows local safety ordinances “provided that no such regulation is specific to breed, weight, or size,” with no exception for old ones. The Sunrise rule went with it.
The wider preemption picture is here.
That history matters less for liability than people expect — § 767.04 has never turned on breed — but it matters for what residents believe. Sunrise households lived under a muzzling rule for three decades, and beliefs of that vintage do not update on a statutory effective date.
Broward’s municipal patchwork
This is the genuinely distinctive operational feature of a Broward claim.
Broward is heavily municipalised. Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Coral Springs, Miramar, Pompano Beach, Sunrise and many more are separate cities, each with its own code enforcement, its own police department, and its own local ordinances on leashing, confinement, and animals at large.
Two consequences:
Which city you were in changes which local rules were being broken. Breed rules are preempted, but leash and at-large rules are not — and an owner’s violation of a municipal leash ordinance is often the “negligent act or omission of the owner” that breaks the “Bad Dog” sign defense. Identifying the exact municipality is not a formality here; it decides which ordinance to pull.
Reports can land in more than one place. A police report to a city department and an animal report to the county are separate records. Having one does not mean the other exists.
Reporting a bite in Broward
- Broward County Animal Care handles the animal side — investigation, quarantine where required, and any dangerous dog classification.
- The Florida Department of Health in Broward County handles rabies risk assessment.
- The municipal police or code enforcement department for the city you were in may hold a separate incident record.
For a civil claim, the animal services file is usually the most useful, because it is where the investigation findings and any prior complaints about that specific dog are kept. Ask specifically whether the dog has a history — a prior complaint changes the case substantially, and a prior dangerous-dog classification carries a $100,000 statutory insurance requirement with it.
Confirm contact details on the county’s own site rather than from a search result.
Where a Broward case is heard
Broward is one of the small number of Florida counties populous enough to form a judicial circuit by itself, rather than sharing one with neighbouring counties. A dog bite suit arising in Broward is filed in that circuit.
What tends to come up in Broward claims
Rental and community housing. Large managed communities, condominium associations, and a substantial rental market mean a bite frequently involves a property manager or association alongside the dog’s owner — separate parties with separate insurance. Finding every policy that might respond is usually where the recoverable value is decided.
Shared outdoor space. Community pools, dog parks, and walkways generate a particular pattern of incident: an unleashed dog in a space where leashing was required, witnessed by several people who are gone within minutes. Get names and numbers at the scene.
Non-bite injuries. Broward’s density produces a lot of the knockdown pattern — a dog charging or colliding with someone on a path, with a fracture and no bite. That is not a dead claim in Florida, because § 767.01 covers damage that is not a bite.
If the Sunrise rule was used against you
If you were told after October 1, 2023 that a dog had to be muzzled or penned under the old city ordinance, that ordinance is preempted. If the requirement came from a lease, an HOA, or an insurer instead, that is a private arrangement and a different question entirely — preemption does not reach it.