Florida Dog Bite Law FirmFlorida dog bite claims — and nothing else
Florida law is on your side. The dog owner’s insurer knows it.
Under Florida Statute § 767.04 a dog owner is liable the first time their dog bites — no prior history required, no “one free bite.”
But Florida wrote two escape routes into that same sentence, and an adjuster will use both. Know what they are before you talk to them.
Insurance Information Institute & State Farm, 2025 data, published April 2026.
What most Florida victims are never told
The statute that helps you also hands the owner two defenses
1. Your own share of fault comes straight off the top
Section 767.04 says any negligence on your part that helped cause the bite reduces the owner’s liability by that percentage. And since 2023, a victim found more than 50% at fault may recover nothing at all. That is why an adjuster asks what you were doing.
2. A sign can wipe out liability entirely
An owner who displayed a readable sign reading “Bad Dog”may not be liable at all. Three things break that defense — and the first is that it does nothing against a child under six.
Not every claim is a bite claim
A dog that knocked you down still caused damage under Florida law
Most states leave you with a negligence case if a dog charged you, tripped you, or knocked you off a bike without ever breaking skin. Florida has a second statute for exactly that: § 767.01 makes an owner liable for any damage their dog does to a person. If you were told you have no case because you weren’t bitten, that advice was wrong.
Statewide
Florida dog bite claims, county by county
Dog bite law is state law, but animal control, bite reporting, and the county court you file in are all local.
The clock started the day you were bitten
Florida gives you two years. Evidence goes stale much faster than that — wounds heal, witnesses move, and animal control files close.