In New York State, the law regarding whether a person injured by a domestic animal can recover damages from the animal’s owner is relatively settled: Courts impose strict liability on the animal’s owner if the victim can prove that the animal had a “vicious propensity”, and that the animal’s owner was aware of such propensity. Vicious propensity means any behavior that "reflects a proclivity to act in a way that puts others at risk of harm." Bard v. Jahnke, 6 NY3d 592, 597 (2006).
In the New York City area, for example, dog bites are the most common type of injury due to animals. A dog-bite victim must prove that the dog had the dangerous tendency to bite people, and that the dog owner knew it. There are various forms of evidence that can be used to show that the dog had such a dangerous tendency, the easiest being if the dog had previously bit someone else (also known as the “one-bite rule”).
In summary, generally New York permits recovery by a victim only if the animal exhibited aggressive or threatening behavior and the animal owner was aware of it. However, recently, the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court, had to decide a matter involving an animal, but with a different set of facts.
In Hastings v. Suave, the victim was injured when the van she was driving hit a cow on a public road. The cow was kept on a farm, and there was evidence that the fence separating the farm property from the road was overgrown and in bad repair. While the lower courts had dismissed the victim’s case based on the law that the cow did not have a vicious propensity, the Court of Appeals reversed such decision, holding that that a landowner or the owner of an animal may be liable under ordinary tort-law principles when a farm animal is negligently allowed to stray from the property on which the animal is kept.
While you may not encounter many cows or other farm animals during in your neighborhood, if you are injured in any way in an incident involving an animal, make sure you speak with the attorneys at Sutton, LLP so that you are clear on your rights.