Dog bite legal consultant in animal behavior, Richard Polsky, Ph.D., provides expert testimony on dog attacks to attorneys litigating cases on personal injury caused by the behavior of canines.  As a dog bite consultant on animal behavior, Dr. Polsky will advise attorneys on liability issues such as negligence and provocation injury  and if the plaintiff’s injury was caused by a scratch or bite.

Why the need for a dog bite consultant?

Attorneys  may not appreciate the benefit of retaining an expert in animal behavior.  Granted, if liability is not questioned and if damages are the only issue that remains on the table, then there may not be much need for opinions from an animal behavior expert.  On the other hand, animal behavior expert opinion can provide answers to the following essential questions if liability is contested.

• Did the dog possess dangerous propensities?
• Did the owner or keeper of the dog know about the dangerous propensities of the dog?
• Did the landlord maintain the property in a condition to ensure public safety from a potentially dangerous dog?
• Was the dog cared for or handled by the owner in a manner to ensure public safety?
• Did the victim sustain an injury because of a dog-related injury, or was the injury caused by some other means?
• Was there justification for the dog bite victim to interfere in the dog bite? In other words, did the victim assume the risk of being bitten?

Common animal behavior issues for a dog bite consultant

Provocation by the victim ranks highest. Willfully inviting injury because of a provocative act by the plaintiff is one of the most robust defenses to counter liability. In California and Arizona, for example, if provocation can be established, a plaintiff’s recovery may be reduced in proportion to contributory fault.
What constitutes an act of provocation is often unclear, however. It is here where an attorney can effectively use legal consultation from a dog bite expert. A dog bite expert can opine about the kinds of situations that might be provocative to a dog, given the temperament of the dog and the circumstances in which the injury happened.

Surprisingly, appellate law is sparse in defining what provocation means. Therefore, expert opinion from a dog bite expert is needed for interpretation and to assist the trier-of-fact in determining whether provocation by the plaintiff happened in any given instance.

Example of case in which Dr. Polsky provided Dr. Polsky  dog attack expert testimony

Fact pattern

The three pit bulls owned by the defendant resided on his property for a year before the incident.  The dogs escaped from the property and attacked the victim on the street outside of the gate of the defendant’s property. Without provocation, these dogs together viciously attacked and mauled the victim during his evening walk. By happenstance, the defendant arrived on the scene at the time of the incident and stopped the attack. This stroke of luck saved the victim’s life.  There were no reported instances in which these dogs ever attacked a human before the incident. These dogs had previously escaped from the property of the defendant and were loose in the neighborhood as a pack of dogs regularly. Before the incident, these dogs acted aggressively toward neighbors.

Analysis and opinions

The totality of the evidence indicated:

• The dogs possessed dangerous tendencies before the incident.
• The defendant must have known about the danger these dogs presented to public safety before the incident
• The vicious territorial attack by these dogs on the defendant was not an aberrant action by the dogs.
• The incident was foreseeable.
• The defendant failed to take meaningful action to reduce this danger these pit bulls presented to public safety.

Outcome

The defendant was found guilty of violating CA Penal Code 399.