Dog Bites in Dayton: When the Landlord Is, and Isn't, on the Hook

Published October 6, 2022 · Ohio Appeals Courts

When a dog attacks, the first legal question is simple: who pays? The dog's owner is the obvious answer, but many dog owners in the Dayton area rent their homes, and renters do not always carry insurance. So injured people and their lawyers often look to the landlord.

A decision from our local appeals court last month shows where that path leads and where it ends. Ward v. Humble, 2022-Ohio-3258, decided by the Second District Court of Appeals on September 16, 2022, arose from a pit-bull attack in Kettering. The family who was bitten did not win their claim against the landlord, but the decision explains exactly what facts would have changed the result, and why identifying the right defendant and the right insurance policy early is so important.

Ohio's dog-bite statute

Ohio is a strict-liability state for dog bites. Under R.C. 955.28(B), the "owner, keeper, or harborer of a dog is liable in damages for any injury, death, or loss to person or property that is caused by the dog." Strict liability means you do not have to prove the dog had bitten before or that anyone was careless. You must show that the defendant was an owner, keeper or harborer, that the dog caused the injury, and the amount of your damages. The statute has narrow exceptions for people committing crimes or trespass on the owner's property and for people teasing, tormenting or abusing the dog there.

The three categories matter:

• Owner: the person the dog belongs to.
• Keeper: someone who has physical charge or care of the dog, such as a dog sitter or a relative walking it.
• Harborer: someone who has possession and control of the premises where the dog lives and silently acquiesces in the dog's presence.

I explained the statute in more detail in our earlier post on Ohio's dog-bite law.

What happened in Kettering

According to the opinion, Simon and Katie Ward lived next to a rental house in Kettering. The tenants there kept two pit bulls with the landlord's permission, and the landlord had added fencing to part of the yard at the tenants' request. In December 2020, one of the dogs pushed a plank out of the Wards' privacy fence, grabbed their dog by the leg and tried to drag it under the fence. Both Wards were bitten trying to save their pet.

The Wards sued the tenants and the landlord company. The trial court granted summary judgment to the landlord, and the Second District affirmed.

Why the landlord was not a "harborer"

The court focused on possession. A lease generally transfers possession and control of the rental property to the tenant, and when the property is a single-family house on a normal city lot, Ohio courts presume the tenants possess and control the whole property. Nothing in the record showed the landlord had kept possession of the house or yard.

The Wards argued that the lease's no-pets-without-consent clause meant the landlord controlled whether a dog lived there. The court rejected that argument: the power to approve a dog does not make a landlord who is not present the dog's harborer. The court also rejected a common-area theory, because the attack happened on the Wards' own property, not in a common area the landlord owned and controlled.

On the common-law negligence claim, the court applied the traditional rule that a landlord has no duty to act against a tenant's dog unless the landlord knew the dog was vicious. There was no evidence the landlord knew of prior aggression.

When a landlord can be liable

Ward does not say landlords are never liable. The court itself noted that attempts to hold landlords liable have been rejected unless the plaintiff shows a level of possession and control not normally present in a typical landlord-tenant situation, or prior knowledge of the dog's viciousness. That leaves real paths in the right case:

• Common areas. In apartment complexes and multi-unit buildings, the landlord usually keeps possession and control of hallways, stairwells, parking lots, yards and play areas. A bite in a space the landlord controls is a different case from a bite in a tenant's private yard.
• Shared or informal arrangements. Where the landlord lives on the property, shares the space, or rents to family without a written lease, possession and control may be disputed.
• Prior complaints. If neighbors or other tenants reported the dog's aggression to the landlord before the attack, the landlord's knowledge can support a negligence claim.

These facts must be developed quickly. Complaint emails, management texts, prior animal-control reports and witness statements tend to disappear once a lawsuit is threatened. Our chapter on gathering evidence while it still exists explains why the first weeks matter.

Following the insurance

In most dog-bite cases, the money comes from insurance, not from anyone's savings:

• The owner's homeowner's or renter's policy usually covers dog-bite liability, unless the policy excludes the breed or the specific dog. Ask for the policy information right away.
• A keeper's policy may apply if someone else had charge of the dog at the time.
• Your own coverage may help with medical bills through health insurance or medical payments coverage; see Using Your Own Insurance.

Collecting from the owner's insurer can involve its own fight over exclusions and intentional-act clauses, which I discussed in our post on collecting from the dog owner's insurance company.

What this means for you

If you or your child was bitten by a dog in the Dayton area:

1. Get medical care immediately. Dog bites carry a high infection risk and may need plastic-surgery follow-up for scarring.
2. Report the bite to the county dog warden or animal control, which creates an official record.
3. Photograph the wounds, the location, any fence or gate the dog got through, and the dog itself.
4. Write down who owns the dog, who was caring for it, and who owns or manages the property where it lives.
5. Talk to a lawyer before the owner's insurer takes your statement.

Dog-bite injuries, especially to children's faces and hands, can mean permanent scarring and lasting fear. Those are serious damages. We handle these claims as part of our personal injury practice and our premises liability work.