Dog Bite Law in New York: What You Have to Prove — A Flushing Guide

The three routes, side by side

You may plead more than one, and in most Queens cases you should — they fail for different reasons.

Flanders v. Goodfellow: the 2025 change most pages still get wrong

For nearly twenty years New York was an outlier: under Bard v. Jahnke (2006) and Doerr v. Goldsmith (2015), vicious propensity was the only route against the owner of a domestic animal. Careless handling was not actionable at all.

On April 17, 2025 the Court of Appeals ended that. In Flanders v. Goodfellow it held that "to the extent we previously held that a plaintiff may not assert a common-law negligence cause of action against the owner of a domestic animal for harms caused by that animal, we now overrule that precedent." Bard is overruled on that point and Doerr no longer states the law. The holding reaches domestic animals generally, not just dogs.

The standard is now the familiar one: did the owner exercise reasonable care under all the circumstances to prevent foreseeable harm? A dog off leash where the law requires one, an unlatched gate, a leash dropped in a lobby — any of these can carry a claim on its own, with no proof of the dog's history. A page telling you New York bars negligence claims against dog owners is describing law overruled in 2025.

Hewitt v. Palmer Veterinary Clinic (2020) still matters, but for a different defendant: a non-owner — a clinic, a kennel, a groomer — whose own independent negligence contributed.

Strict liability: vicious propensity, and § 123(10)

This route survives Flanders intact, and Collier v. Zambito (2005) still describes it: the owner is liable where he knew or should have known of the animal's vicious propensities. The phrase is broader than it sounds — not limited to a dog that has bitten, but any tendency to act in a way that might endanger someone. Courts have found it in dogs that lunged, snapped or growled, and in dogs whose owners treated them as a risk to manage.

Agriculture & Markets Law § 123 supplies the third route. Once a dog has been adjudicated dangerous — a proceeding in local criminal court, covered in our post on dangerous dog proceedings — subdivision (10) makes its owner strictly liable for medical costs from a later injury. The exceptions in § 123(4) and (11) withdraw that where the injured person was trespassing, committing a crime or tormenting the dog, and where the dog defended itself, its owner or its offspring.

What proves vicious propensity, and where you get it

This evidence does two jobs: it carries the strict liability claim outright, and it strengthens the negligence claim by showing what the owner knew he was handling. It is perishable — neighbors move, video overwrites within days, supers change jobs. It is also no longer the whole case: before Flanders a clean history ended things, and now it only takes strict liability off the table, leaving the negligence route.

Flushing: dense buildings, shared doorways, and the neighbor problem

Most urban dog bites happen not in a park but in the shared spaces of apartment living, and Flushing has as much of that as anywhere in Queens. The blocks off Kissena Boulevard, Union Street, Northern Boulevard and 39th Avenue are wall-to-wall walk-ups, co-ops and mid-rises, and the bite comes in a lobby, an elevator, a stairwell landing or a courtyard — two people and a dog a few feet apart, nobody able to step aside. The crowded sidewalks on Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue do the same outdoors.

Kissena Park and the long green ribbon of Kissena Corridor Park are the most heavily used dog-walking grounds in this part of Queens, and Bowne Park draws steady neighborhood traffic. Off-leash use is confined to designated areas and hours — the NYC Parks dog-friendly areas list shows where. After Flanders, a leash violation is direct evidence of a failure to use reasonable care. See leash rules and park bites.

Then the part no statute covers. Flushing is one of the most immigrant-dense neighborhoods in the city, and the dog usually belongs to someone the injured person must keep living beside. People hesitate. The bite gets washed at the sink, never reported, and a year later nothing shows it happened.

Damages, fault, and the deadlines

On the negligence and propensity routes the damages are the ordinary categories: medical care, scar revision, lost earnings, and pain and suffering — driven in bite cases by visible scarring and the anxiety around dogs that follows. See our pain and suffering calculator and what a dog bite claim is worth. The car-accident serious injury threshold does not apply.

Being partly at fault reduces recovery; it never bars it. Under CPLR 1411 New York uses pure comparative negligence, so provoking the dog, trespassing or ignoring a warning cuts the award by a percentage rather than ending the case.

The deadline is three years under CPLR 214(5). For a child, CPLR 208(a) extends it to three years after the disability ceases — three years past the eighteenth birthday. A parent's own derivative claim for medical expenses is not tolled, and families miss it; see child dog bite injuries and the infancy toll. If a public entity is involved — NYCHA, a City agency, a police K-9 — GML § 50-e requires a Notice of Claim within 90 days; see New York filing deadlines.

What to do after a bite

1. Get medical care the same day for anything that broke the skin. Puncture wounds close over infection.
2. Report it to DOHMH within 24 hours, as the City requires. That starts rabies observation and dates the official record.
3. Photograph the wounds before they close, and again as they heal.
4. Write down what the owner was doing — leash or no leash, gate, door, who was holding it. Since Flanders, that is the negligence case.
5. Identify the dog and owner, get numbers for witnesses, and ask the building in writing to preserve lobby video.
6. Talk to a Queens dog bite lawyer before giving an insurer a recorded statement. Most claims are paid by the owner's homeowner's or renter's coverage.

Common questions

Is New York a one-bite state?

No. Since Flanders v. Goodfellow (2025) there are three routes: ordinary negligence, strict liability on vicious propensity, and § 123(10) medical costs for a dog already adjudicated dangerous. A dog with no history can still produce a claim, because negligence asks what the owner did, not what the dog had done.

Can I sue a dog owner for negligence in New York?

Yes. In Flanders v. Goodfellow (N.Y. 2025) the Court of Appeals overruled the precedent barring common-law negligence claims against the owner of a domestic animal, so Bard v. Jahnke no longer controls and Doerr v. Goldsmith no longer states the law. The question is whether the owner used reasonable care to prevent foreseeable harm. A leash violation, an unlatched gate or careless handling can support a claim on its own.

What counts as proof that an owner knew a dog was dangerous?

Prior bites are strongest but not required. Growling, snapping, baring teeth or lunging can establish it, as can keeping the dog chained or muzzled, a "Beware of Dog" sign, or warnings to keep away. Complaints to a landlord or co-op board, DOHMH reports and a prior dangerous dog proceeding also carry it. That proof unlocks strict liability; without it, the negligence route remains.

How long do I have to file a dog bite claim in New York?

Three years under CPLR 214(5). For a child, CPLR 208(a) extends it to three years past the eighteenth birthday — but a parent's derivative claim for medical expenses is not tolled. If NYCHA, a City agency or a police K-9 is involved, GML § 50-e requires a Notice of Claim in 90 days.

This page is general information about New York law. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Davidov & Cohen Law. To talk about your own situation, tell us what happened.