Georgia dog bite lawyer

Georgia is not a pure strict-liability state for dog bites. An owner is liable where they kept a vicious or dangerous animal and managed it carelessly or let it run loose — and a violation of a local leash ordinance can itself establish that carelessness, which is why the local rule so often decides the case.

Reviewed by Omar A. Cooper, Esq. · Last updated September 3, 2026

Who is usually responsible

More than one party is often liable for a dog attack, and finding the second one is frequently what changes the value of a claim:

• the dog’s owner;
• a keeper or handler who had control of the animal at the time;
• a landlord, in the narrower circumstance where they knew of a dangerous animal on the property and could have removed it.

The evidence that decides these cases

In rough order of how quickly it disappears:

• animal-control records and any prior bite or complaint history for that dog;
• the local leash ordinance for the specific city or county, and whether it was being broken;
• photographs of the injuries through the whole healing process — scarring damages are assessed on the result;
• witness accounts of how the dog was being controlled;
• the medical record, including infection risk and any rabies protocol.

An owner who keeps a vicious or dangerous animal and carelessly manages it, or lets it go at liberty, is liable to a person injured by it who did not provoke the animal. (O.C.G.A. § 51-2-7.) In practice the fight is about the owner’s knowledge — and a leash-law violation is often the shortcut, because letting an animal run at large where an ordinance forbids it is careless management on its face.

Homeowner’s and renter’s insurance usually covers dog bites, which means the claim is normally against a policy rather than against a neighbour personally. That is worth knowing, because reluctance to "sue a friend" stops a great many legitimate claims.

What can be recovered

• Economic lossMedical treatment already received and reasonably expected in future, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, and property damage.
• Non-economic lossPain, suffering, mental anguish, disfigurement and the loss of the things you used to be able to do.
• Punitive damagesAvailable in the narrower set of Georgia cases involving wilful misconduct or conscious indifference to consequences — drunk driving being the clearest example. They are not part of an ordinary negligence claim.

Every case is different and no outcome can be promised. What we can commit to is that the claim will be documented properly before anyone is asked to put a number on it.

What to do now

If a dog attack has just happened, the order of these matters more than people expect:

• Get medical attention, and keep going. Your health comes first, and a documented, continuous treatment record is also what makes the injury provable later. Gaps are the argument insurers make most often.
• Report it. A police report, an incident report or an animal-control report creates a contemporaneous record that cannot be reconstructed afterwards.
• Preserve what will disappear. Photograph the scene, the vehicles or the hazard, and your injuries. Video is usually overwritten within days — a written request to preserve it has to go out early. Georgia crash reports are released through BuyCrash a few business days later.
• Do not give the other side a recorded statement before you have spoken to a lawyer and know the extent of your injuries. You are not required to.
• Get a free review. Call (470) 852-6328 and Omar will tell you honestly whether there is a claim.

Sources: O.C.G.A. § 51-2-7 — liability for a vicious or dangerous animal · O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 — injuries to the person: two years · O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33 — apportionment and comparative fault · Georgia crash reports — BuyCrash

Questions people ask about these claims