This page introduces California dog bite expert witness  Richard Polsky, Ph.D., to attorneys seeking a specialist in animal behavior.

 Overview of dog bite expert witness services by Dr. Polsky

• Dr. Polsky is an experienced and well qualified expert witness. Over 500 times, in both civil and criminal cases, dog bite attorneys have retained him.
• Services include, but are not limited to, report writing, dog and property inspections, deposition, and trial testimony.
• Dr. Polsky provides expert testimony on issues frequently occurring in dog bite litigation, such as provocation, negligence, foreseeability of a dog bite incident, assumption of risk, and landlord liability.
• Attorneys are encouraged to visit other relevant pages on this website to gain a greater understanding of how the expert witness services of Dr. Polsky might benefit their case.  For example:

Daubert and the California canine expert witness

What is the job of the dog bite expert witness?

Animal behavior science and dog expert witness testimony

The animal behavior expert: Help for dog bite attorneys

Examples of Dr. Polsky’s work as a dog bite expert witness

• In California, the assumption of risk is a crucial aspect of a case involving a 60-year-old woman who was attacked by a 13-year-old poodle. The incident occurred when the woman was picking up a dog’s toy, which she had previously known about due to her previous care for the dog. The dog’s aggressive tendencies were revealed, and the plaintiff was subsequently attacked. The defense argued that the plaintiff had provoked the dog in some way. The defense hired Dr. Polsky to examine the issue of provocation and reconstruct the incident. While the California dog bite statute applies, the defense argued that mitigating circumstances, such as assumption of risk and provocation, needed to be considered.
• In a case involving the fatal dog mauling of a 7-year-old boy by two Rottweiler-type dogs, the prosecution retained Dr. Polsky. The defendant was an ex-police officer who maintained the dogs on his property in Red Bluff, Northern California. The incident occurred when the victim entered the backyard of the defendant’s property, where a chain-link fence separated the defendant’s yard from the victim’s. The dog was loose in the defendant’s yard, and the chain-link fence needed repair. The dog slipped under the fence and attacked the victim. The defendant was found guilty. Gregg Cohen, the prosecuting attorney, was involved in other dog mauling cases and is best known for formulating California’s Cody’s Law, which makes it a felony to own a dog with vicious propensities that severely injures or kills a person.
•  The district attorneys office in Orlando, Florida, retained Dr. Polsky in a case involving felony charges for aggravated child abuse against a Gainesville police officer. The case involved a two-month-old infant who sustained broken ribs, a lacerated liver, and internal organ ruptures. The officer claimed that his seven-year-old castrated Dutch Shepherd caused the incident. Medical examiners came to the conclusion that the child’s internal injuries resulted from his father squeezing him rather than a dog attack. The incident occurred in the early afternoon after the officer had returned from a night shift and was sleeping. The prosecution argued that the officer was acting out of frustration and trying to physically quiet a crying child, leading to the infant’s injuries.