Free Dog Bite Guide
A Note on Colorado's Dog Bite Law
Colorado’s dog bite laws give an injured person two separate ways to recover. The first is a strict-liability statute, C.R.S. 13-21-124, which makes a dog owner liable for economic damages when a bite causes serious bodily injury or death to a person lawfully on public or private property. The second is ordinary negligence, which the statute preserves and which covers everything else. Most claims must be filed within two years.
This guide explains both routes in plain language. It is written for a Colorado resident who has been bitten, whose child has been bitten, or whose dog has bitten someone, and who wants to understand the law before deciding what to do. It is general information, not legal advice. It is attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. If you have a specific situation, talk to a licensed Colorado attorney about your facts.
I should say where I sit when I read these statutes. I practice personal injury law in Centennial, and I also serve as the presiding municipal judge for the towns of Otis and Eckley. Reading a statute from the bench is a different exercise from reading it as an advocate. You start with the words, you ask what each word does, and you resist the urge to make the statute say what you wish it said. That is the method this guide uses. Each section states the conclusion first, then the rule, then an explanation of how the rule operates, then an application to facts. Lawyers call that CREAC. Everyone else calls it answering the question.
One more disclosure. Kim and I own two dogs. We like dogs. Nothing in this guide is an argument against dogs or against the people who keep them responsibly. The statute is not either. It allocates the cost of a serious injury to the person who chose to keep the animal, and it leaves ordinary negligence law to handle the rest.
Key Takeaways
- Colorado is both a strict-liability state and a negligence state for dog bites. Which rule applies depends on how serious the injury is. Strict liability under C.R.S. 13-21-124 covers economic damages only, and only when the bite caused serious bodily injury or death.
- Serious bodily injury takes its meaning from the criminal code, C.R.S. 18-1-901(3)(p). It includes injuries that carry a substantial risk of death, serious permanent disfigurement, or long-term loss of function of a body part, and it includes any fracture and any second- or third-degree burn.
- Pain, suffering, scarring and emotional distress are not available under the statute. They are recovered through a negligence claim, which requires proof that the owner knew or should have known the dog was dangerous or failed to use reasonable care.
- The statute lists six situations in which strict liability does not apply, including trespass, a clearly posted warning sign on the owner’s property, and knowing provocation. Colorado’s comparative-fault rule, C.R.S. 13-21-111, reduces a negligence recovery by the injured person’s share of fault and bars it at 50 percent.
- Most dog bite lawsuits must be filed within two years under C.R.S. 13-80-102. If a government agency owned the dog, written notice is due within 182 days under C.R.S. 24-10-109. A child without a court-appointed representative generally has until two years after turning 18.
- Colorado law requires a dog bite to be reported to the health department, and the owner can be ordered to confine the dog for observation. Denver Animal Protection asks for the report within 12 hours. The state rabies-control policy uses 24 hours. Report the same day.
- For cases filed on or after January 1, 2025, non-economic damages in most injury cases are capped at $1.5 million under HB24-1472. Economic damages are not capped.
How to use this guide
Read this note and Part I if you want to understand the law. Read Part II if the bite was recent and you need to know what to do this week. Read Part V if the person bitten is a child. Read Part VII if the dog is yours. The remaining parts cover defenses, valuation, and the people other than the owner who can be responsible.
If you would rather have your situation evaluated than explained, a Denver dog bite lawyer can do that in a free consultation. Dog bite work is one part of our broader personal injury practice in Denver, and the rules on fault, damages and deadlines discussed here apply across that practice. Call Jacobs Law, PLLC at (303) 529-4040, or use the contact form. There is no fee unless we recover for you.
Part I: How Colorado's Dog Bite Statute Works, and How Courts Read It
Colorado adopted its dog bite statute in 2004. Before that, an injured person had to prove negligence, which usually meant proving the owner knew the dog was dangerous. The statute removed that burden for the most serious injuries. It did not remove negligence law. It sits beside it. Understanding how the two fit together is the whole subject of this Part.
Is Colorado a one-bite state?
Not for serious injuries. The phrase “one-bite rule” describes the common-law idea that an owner is not responsible until the dog has shown it is dangerous, usually by biting once. Colorado kept that rule for ordinary negligence claims and replaced it, for serious bodily injury or death, with strict liability under C.R.S. 13-21-124. A first bite that fractures a bone or requires reconstructive surgery is enough. The dog’s history is irrelevant to that claim.
Here is the rule in its own words, lightly condensed. A person who suffers serious bodily injury or death from being bitten by a dog while lawfully on public or private property may bring a civil action to recover economic damages against the dog owner, regardless of the viciousness or dangerous propensities of the dog or the owner’s knowledge or lack of knowledge of them. You can read the full text of C.R.S. 13-21-124 on the Colorado Public Law site.
Four words in that sentence do most of the work.
- “Bitten.” The statute applies to bites. A person knocked down by a dog that never bit them has a negligence claim, not a statutory one.
- “Serious bodily injury.” Defined below. Lesser injuries fall outside the statute.
- “Lawfully.” Defined by the statute itself in subsection (4), discussed below.
- “Economic damages.” Medical bills, lost income and other measurable losses. Pain and suffering are not included.
What the statute means by “bodily injury” and “serious bodily injury”
The statute defines two levels of injury, and the difference between them decides which rule applies.
Term | Statutory definition | Where it comes from |
Bodily injury | Any physical injury that results in severe bruising, muscle tears, or skin lacerations requiring professional medical treatment, or any physical injury that requires corrective or cosmetic surgery. | C.R.S. 13-21-124(1)(a) |
Serious bodily injury | Injury that, at the time of the injury or at a later time, involves a substantial risk of death, a substantial risk of serious permanent disfigurement, or a substantial risk of protracted loss or impairment of the function of any part or organ of the body, or breaks, fractures, or burns of the second or third degree. | C.R.S. 18-1-901(3)(p), adopted by C.R.S. 13-21-124(1)(d) |
Only the second category triggers strict liability. The first category, which the statute defines but then uses mainly in the criminal dangerous-dog law, describes the injuries that typically proceed on the negligence track. A bite that leaves severe bruising and a laceration closed with stitches is a bodily injury. A bite that fractures a finger, or that leaves a facial scar a surgeon describes as permanent, is a serious bodily injury. The line is not always obvious at the emergency room. It often becomes clear only after follow-up care, which is one reason the medical record matters so much.
Who counts as the “dog owner”
The statute defines the owner broadly. A dog owner is a person, firm, corporation, or organization owning, possessing, harboring, keeping, having financial or property interest in, or having control or custody of, a dog. The words “control or custody” reach beyond the person whose name is on the license. A person walking a friend’s dog, or a family member keeping the dog for the week, may fit the definition. Whether a paid sitter or a boarding facility fits it has not been decided by a Colorado appellate court as far as I can find, so I will not tell you that it has.
What “lawfully on public or private property” means
The statute answers this in subsection (4). A person is lawfully on property if the person is performing a duty imposed by law, is on the property at the express or implied invitation of the owner, or is on his or her own property. The mail carrier, the meter reader, the invited guest and the homeowner in their own yard are all covered. The person who climbed a fence is not, which is the first of the six exceptions discussed in Part III.
How the Colorado Supreme Court has read the statute
The leading case is Robinson v. Legro, decided by the Colorado Supreme Court in 2014. A cyclist in a sanctioned race on a national forest road was attacked by two livestock-guardian dogs. The owners held a federal grazing permit for the area, and their shepherd was more than a mile away. The owners argued the working-dog exception applied because the dogs were protecting sheep on property under the owners’ control.
The Court read the exception the way a careful reader would. The exception covers a dog working on the property of the owner, or working under the control of the owner. “Under the control of” describes the dog, not the land. The Court said, in substance, that it is control of the dog that matters, not control of the property. Because the dogs were a mile from anyone who could control them, that branch of the exception did not apply. The Court did not decide what counts as “the property of” the owner, and sent the case back.
On remand, the Court of Appeals decided that question in 2015 in Legro v. Robinson. A grazing permit on public land is a license to use the land, not a property interest in it. The land was not the owners’ property, the dogs were not under their control, and the exception did not bar the strict-liability claim.
Two lessons follow. First, the exceptions are read according to their words, not according to what seems fair to a rancher or a cyclist. Second, a Colorado dog bite case can take years when a question of statutory meaning is open. Most cases do not raise open questions. The ones that do are the reason to have counsel who reads statutes closely.
Why the statute preserves negligence
Subsection (6) of the statute says that nothing in it affects any other cause of action, any other statute regulating dogs, or the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act. That is why a serious-injury case usually proceeds on two tracks at once. The statutory claim recovers the economic losses without any proof of the owner’s knowledge. The negligence claim, which does require proof that the owner knew or should have known of the danger or failed to use reasonable care, recovers the non-economic losses. For injuries below the serious-bodily-injury line, negligence is the only track.
I think of it this way from the bench. The statute is a floor the legislature built for the worst injuries. Negligence law is the rest of the house. A claim can stand on both.
Part II: The First 30 Days After a Dog Bite in Colorado
The first month after a dog bite decides most of what a claim will later be worth. The medical record is created, the dog is identified and observed, the owner’s insurer opens a file, and the physical evidence either gets preserved or disappears. This Part walks through that month in order. It is longer than the quick checklist on our dog bite practice page because it explains why each step matters.
The first hour: treatment and the record
See a provider the same day, even for a bite that looks minor. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises contacting a healthcare provider after any dog bite, and warns that a bacterium commonly carried in dogs’ mouths, Capnocytophaga, can cause severe illness in people with weakened immune systems. A 2014 review in American Family Physician put the infection rate for dog bites at roughly 3 to 20 percent, with puncture wounds and bites to the hand and face carrying the highest risk. Those are also the wounds most likely to need antibiotics, imaging and a specialist.
The visit also creates the record. In every dog bite case I have handled, the first medical note is the document the insurer reads first. It fixes the date, the mechanism, the location of the wounds and the initial severity. If the note says “dog bite, right forearm, two puncture wounds, tendon involvement suspected,” the case is on one footing. If there is no note for nine days, it is on another.
The first day: report the bite
Colorado law requires a bite to be reported to the health department. C.R.S. 25-4-603 places the duty on the treating physician and on any person with knowledge of the bite. C.R.S. 25-4-604 then lets the health officer order the owner to confine the dog, at the owner’s expense, for a period set by the state health department, so the animal can be observed for rabies. State rabies-control policy sets that observation period at ten days.
Where to report depends on where the bite happened. In the City and County of Denver, Denver Animal Protection takes reports at 720-913-2080 and asks that bites be reported within 12 hours. Denver’s municipal code separately requires the owner to notify the city immediately and confine the dog. In Centennial, the agency is Centennial Animal Services at 303-325-8070. Elsewhere in the metro area, call the city or county animal-control office. The state policy uses a 24-hour window. Do not wait for either deadline. Report the same day.
The report matters for three reasons. It protects you medically, because the observation period is how rabies risk is ruled out without a course of post-exposure shots. It creates an official record of the dog, the owner and the date, written by a neutral agency. And it may start the city’s dangerous-animal process, which can produce a hearing record you later use.
The first week: identify, photograph, preserve
- Identify the owner and get proof of rabies vaccination. If the owner refuses, the animal-control report will do it for you.
- Collect names and phone numbers for every witness. Neighbors who saw the dog before the bite are as important as people who saw the bite.
- Photograph the wounds every day for the first two weeks, in good light, with something for scale. Photograph the location, any fence, gate or sign, and the dog if you can do so safely.
- Save the clothing you were wearing, unwashed, in a paper bag.
- Keep a short daily note: pain level, what you could not do that day, appointments attended.
- Do not post about the bite on social media. The owner’s insurer will find it.
I will say something about photographs from experience. We recently handled a case where the client had photographs of the dog, the place, the bite and everything around it, from the first day forward. Those photographs made a world of difference. They let us show the adjuster, and later a mediator, exactly what happened and what the injury did to our client’s life, without asking anyone to take our word for it. We have since built that practice into how we prepare every dog bite file. In that case the result was six figures. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome, and every case turns on its own facts. But the lesson is general: the person who documents wins the argument about what happened.
The first two weeks: the insurer calls
Most dog bites are paid by the owner’s homeowners or renters insurance. The insurer’s adjuster will call quickly and ask for a recorded statement. You are not required to give one to the other side’s insurer, and I recommend that you do not do so before you have spoken with counsel. The statement is where the comparative-fault and provocation arguments described in Part III are built. “Did you reach toward the dog?” and “Had you met the dog before?” are not neutral questions.
You should, however, notify your own insurers. Your health insurer pays the medical bills first. If you have a homeowners or renters policy with medical-payments coverage, it may pay some early expenses regardless of fault. Keep every explanation of benefits.
The first month: follow-up care and the shape of the claim
By the end of the first month, the medical picture is usually clearer. Infections have declared themselves or have not. A hand surgeon or plastic surgeon has or has not been consulted. Scarring has started to show its permanence. This is when a lawyer can tell you, with some confidence, which track the claim is on, which Part I explained, and what a reasonable range of outcomes looks like.
When | What to do | Why it matters |
Same day | Medical care. Report to animal control. Photograph wounds and scene. | Creates the medical record and the official record. Starts rabies observation. |
Days 1 to 7 | Identify owner and witnesses. Preserve clothing. Start a daily note. | Evidence that cannot be recreated later. |
Days 7 to 14 | Decline a recorded statement to the owner’s insurer until you have counsel. Notify your own insurers. | Protects the claim from fault arguments. Gets early bills paid. |
Days 14 to 30 | Attend all follow-up care. Ask for referrals if scarring or hand or facial injury is involved. | Fixes the severity, which decides the legal track and the value. |
If a loose dog caused a crash rather than a bite, for example by running into the road in front of a cyclist or a car, the claim is a negligence claim against the owner and the analysis overlaps with our car accident practice. The same first-30-days discipline applies.
Part III: The Six Exceptions and Comparative Fault, Applied
Colorado’s dog bite statute lists six situations in which strict liability does not apply. They are exceptions to the statute, not defenses to every claim. A person who falls within one may still have a negligence claim. Separately, Colorado’s comparative-fault rule reduces or bars a negligence recovery based on the injured person’s own share of fault. This Part applies both to realistic facts.
What are the six exceptions?
Subsection (5) of C.R.S. 13-21-124 says the strict-liability claim is not available when the injured person was:
- Unlawfully on public or private property.
- On the dog owner’s property, and the property was clearly and conspicuously posted with a “no trespassing” or “beware of dog” sign.
- Bitten by a dog being used by a peace officer or military personnel in the performance of duties.
- Someone who knowingly provoked the dog.
- A veterinary health-care worker, groomer, humane-agency staff person, professional dog handler, trainer or dog-show judge acting in the performance of those duties.
- Bitten by a dog working as a hunting dog, herding dog, farm or ranch dog, or predator-control dog, on the property of or under the control of the owner.
Each exception is read according to its words. Three of them generate most of the disputes.
How does the “beware of dog” sign exception work?
The sign exception has three parts, and each must be met. The bite must occur on the owner’s property. The property must be posted. The posting must be clear and conspicuous. A sign on the back gate does not post the front walk. A faded sign behind a bush is not conspicuous. And the exception removes the strict-liability claim only. An owner who posts a sign and then leaves the gate open for the mail carrier has told the world the dog is dangerous, which is exactly the knowledge a negligence claim requires.
What does “knowingly provoked” mean?
The statute does not define provocation, and no Colorado appellate decision I have found construes the phrase. The word “knowingly” does the work. It describes deliberate conduct toward the dog, not accidental conduct near it. Walking past a dog, reaching to pet a dog that appeared friendly, or startling a sleeping dog by entering a room are not, in ordinary English, knowing provocation. Teasing, striking or cornering a dog may be. Because the question is open, it is argued on the facts in nearly every contested case, which is one more reason the first-day statements matter.
How does the working-dog exception apply after Robinson v. Legro?
Part I described the case. The practical rule it produced is this. The exception protects an owner whose dog is working on the owner’s own property, or whose dog is working under the owner’s actual control. A guardian dog roaming a public road a mile from its handler is doing neither. A herding dog working a flock on the family ranch, with the rancher present, is doing both. The exception is about ranch and farm work, and the courts have declined to stretch it to public land.
Comparative fault
Colorado follows modified comparative negligence under C.R.S. 13-21-111. In a negligence claim, the injured person’s recovery is reduced by his or her percentage of fault, and barred entirely if that percentage is 50 or more. Insurers raise comparative fault in nearly every dog bite negligence claim. The usual arguments are that the injured person approached the dog, ignored a warning, or entered a space where the dog was confined. Whether those arguments succeed is a question of fact, and the evidence from the first week decides it.
A note on how the two rules interact. The statutory claim does not use comparative fault in the ordinary way. Its exceptions are the legislature’s own judgment about which conduct by the injured person removes the claim. The negligence claim is where percentages are argued.
Hypothetical example
The following is an illustration using fictional names. It is not a real case, and it is not a prediction about any case.
Elena Marquez walks her neighbor’s dog, Biscuit, on Tuesdays. One Tuesday she opens the neighbor’s side gate as usual. A second dog the neighbor has recently adopted, which Elena has never met, rushes the gate and bites her forearm. The bite tears muscle and requires two surgeries. A “Beware of Dog” sign is posted on the front door, which Elena never passes.
Conclusion first. Elena likely has a strict-liability claim for her economic damages, and a negligence claim for the rest. The rule is C.R.S. 13-21-124(2) and (5). The explanation is that Elena was on the property at the owner’s implied invitation, so she was lawfully there under subsection (4). The sign exception fails on its own terms because the sign was not on the path she used and so did not conspicuously post the side yard. The provocation exception fails because opening a gate she had permission to open is not knowing provocation. Her injury, muscle tearing requiring surgery, likely meets the serious-bodily-injury definition, which a surgeon’s testimony would establish. Applying the rule, the owner owes Elena’s medical bills and lost income regardless of whether the owner knew the new dog was dangerous. For pain, scarring and the anxiety she now feels around dogs, Elena must show negligence. Adopting a dog with an unknown history and allowing it unsupervised access to a gate that a known visitor uses every week is the kind of fact a jury may treat as a failure of reasonable care. The insurer will argue Elena should have called first. That argument goes to the negligence claim only, and would reduce rather than bar her recovery unless a jury put her fault at 50 percent or more.
The point of the example is not the outcome. It is the order of analysis. Which rule, which words, which facts.
Part IV: How a Colorado Dog Bite Claim Is Valued
There is no average dog bite settlement in Colorado that means anything for a particular case, and this guide will not give you one. The value of a claim is the sum of specific losses, measured against the rules that cap some of them, reduced by fault, and limited in practice by the insurance available. This Part explains each of those pieces so you can see how a lawyer builds the number.
Economic damages
Economic damages are the losses that can be measured in dollars. In a dog bite case they typically include emergency and follow-up treatment, surgery, physical and occupational therapy, counseling, medication, travel to appointments, lost wages, and the loss of future earning capacity when an injury is permanent. They also include future medical care that is reasonably certain to be needed, such as a scar revision a surgeon recommends waiting a year to perform. These are the damages the strict-liability statute allows, and they are not capped.
Non-economic damages and the cap
Non-economic damages compensate for pain, suffering, inconvenience, emotional distress and impairment of quality of life. In a dog bite case they are recovered through the negligence claim. For civil actions filed on or after January 1, 2025, Colorado capped non-economic damages in most injury cases at $1.5 million, and in wrongful-death cases at $2.125 million, under HB24-1472. The caps adjust for inflation beginning in 2028. Most dog bite claims resolve well below those figures. The caps matter in catastrophic cases.
Exemplary damages
Colorado permits exemplary damages, which other states call punitive damages, under C.R.S. 13-21-102 when the injury was attended by fraud, malice, or willful and wanton conduct. An owner who knew a dog had seriously injured someone before and let it run loose anyway is the kind of fact that supports the claim. Three rules limit it. The award may not exceed the actual damages, though a court may increase it to as much as three times actual damages if the defendant continued the conduct during the case. The claim cannot be included in the initial complaint; it is added later, after disclosures, on a showing of prima facie proof. And exemplary damages are taxable income to the recipient, which the next section explains.
Insurance limits set the practical ceiling
The Insurance Information Institute reports that in 2025, U.S. homeowners insurers paid about $1.86 billion on 28,450 dog-related injury claims, an average of roughly $65,450 per claim, and that homeowners liability limits are typically $100,000 to $300,000. Those are national figures from one trade group and they are not a forecast for any case. They do illustrate the point. An owner’s policy limit is often the practical ceiling on recovery, because collecting a judgment above the limit from an individual is difficult. The first thing we do in a dog bite file is identify every policy that might respond: the homeowners or renters policy, an umbrella policy, and, where a business or landlord is involved, a commercial policy.
Health insurance repayment: Colorado’s made-whole rule
When your health insurer pays your medical bills and you later recover from the dog owner’s insurer, the health insurer may seek repayment from the recovery. Colorado limits that right more than most states. Under C.R.S. 10-1-135, a health plan may be repaid only if you have first been fully compensated for all of your damages. The repayment cannot exceed what the plan actually paid, and it must be reduced by the plan’s proportionate share of your attorney fees and costs. The statute also sets presumptions: a recovery below the total available policy limits is presumed to have left you less than whole. You must notify the plan within 60 days of a recovery.
Two exceptions matter. Colorado Medicaid and the Children’s Basic Health Plan are excluded from the statute, and self-funded employer plans governed by federal ERISA law and Medicare follow federal rules instead. Handling these repayment claims correctly often changes the net recovery by more than the negotiation with the owner’s insurer does.
Taxes
Under IRS Publication 4345, compensation for personal physical injuries, including emotional distress attributable to those injuries, is not taxable income. Punitive damages and interest on a judgment are taxable. Emotional-distress damages that do not originate from a physical injury are taxable, less unreimbursed medical costs. Because a dog bite is a physical injury, most of a dog bite recovery is not taxed. You can read IRS Publication 4345 directly, and you should confirm your situation with a tax professional.
Deadlines that shape value
A claim filed late is worth nothing. The table collects the deadlines that apply.
Claim | Deadline | Authority |
Strict-liability claim under the dog bite statute | Two years from the bite | C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(b) |
Negligence claim against the owner | Two years from the bite | C.R.S. 13-80-102(1)(a) |
Claim against a government entity (for example, a city or county dog) | Written notice within 182 days of discovering the injury, then suit within the normal period | C.R.S. 24-10-109 |
Claim by a child with no court-appointed representative | The normal two years, or two years after the child turns 18, whichever is later | C.R.S. 13-81-103(1)(c) |
Health-plan reimbursement notice | Within 60 days of any recovery | C.R.S. 10-1-135(4) |
The two-year statute is the one most people know. The 182-day government notice is the one most people miss, and it is not extended for children.
If you want a longer treatment of how damages are proved in any injury case, our free personal injury guide covers it. A Denver dog bite attorney can apply it to your file.
Part V: Dog Bites and Children
Children are bitten more often than adults, are more often bitten on the face and head, and carry the consequences longer. Colorado law treats a child’s claim differently in three ways: who brings it, how long the child has to bring it, and what happens to the money. This Part covers the medical facts first and the legal rules second.
Why children are different
The American Veterinary Medical Association, citing CDC data, reports that more than 4.5 million people in the United States are bitten by dogs each year, that more than 800,000 receive medical attention, and that at least half of those are children. A CDC study published in 2003 found that emergency-department bite rates were highest among children aged 5 to 9, and that among children under 4, about 65 percent of injuries were to the head and neck. The data are older, but the pattern has not changed: small children are at face height with a dog, and they do not read a dog’s warning signals.
The legal consequences follow from the medical ones. A facial bite on a child is more likely to meet the serious-bodily-injury definition through the “serious permanent disfigurement” branch. A child’s scar grows with the child, so the cost of future revision surgery is a real and recoverable economic damage. Psychological injury, including fear of animals and sleep disturbance, is common and is compensable through the negligence claim. In our experience, the mistake parents most often make is settling early, before a plastic surgeon has evaluated how the scar will mature.
Who brings the claim
A child cannot sue in his or her own name. A parent or guardian brings the claim on the child’s behalf. The parent also has a separate claim for the medical expenses the parent paid, which is why a child’s case is usually filed with two claimants.
How long does a child have to file?
Longer than an adult, in most cases. Under C.R.S. 13-81-103, when a person under 18 has no court-appointed legal representative, the limitations period does not run against the child. The child may file within the normal period or within two years after turning 18, whichever is later. In practice, a child bitten at age 9 has until age 20. If a court appoints a representative earlier, the clock runs from the appointment.
Two cautions. The parent’s own claim for medical expenses is an adult claim with the ordinary two-year deadline. And the 182-day written-notice requirement for claims against a government entity is not extended for children. If a city or county dog bit your child, the clock is short.
What happens to the money
Colorado protects a child’s settlement from being spent before adulthood. Under C.R.S. 15-14-104, a person owing money to a minor may pay it to a parent or custodian without a court-appointed conservator only up to $10,000 a year, or the federal annual gift-tax exclusion if that is greater. Larger settlements generally require a conservatorship or a court-supervised arrangement such as a blocked account or a structured settlement that pays out after the child turns 18. Courts review these settlements to make sure the amount is fair and the funds are protected. This is one of the few places in personal injury practice where a judge, rather than the parties, has the last word on whether a settlement is adequate.
Practical steps for parents
- Photograph the injury daily and keep a dated log of the child’s sleep, mood and behavior around animals.
- Ask the pediatrician for a referral to a pediatric plastic surgeon for any facial or hand wound. Ask that surgeon to write an opinion about future revision.
- Do not sign a release from the owner’s insurer. Releases for a child’s claim need court involvement, and an early release can be set aside later only with difficulty.
- Tell the school if the child was bitten on the way to or from school. If the bite happened at a daycare or a friend’s home, the premises rules in Part VI apply.
If your child was bitten, you can read our answers to common questions about how a case proceeds, and you can reach Kim or me directly.
Part VI: Landlords, Property Owners, Dog Sitters and Government Dogs
The dog owner is responsible under the statute. Other people may be responsible under other rules, and the difference between those rules is large. A landlord is liable only under Colorado’s Premises Liability Act, and only with actual knowledge of the danger before the lease. A sitter or walker may be an “owner” under the statute’s broad definition. A government dog is governed by the Governmental Immunity Act, with short notice and capped damages.
Can you sue a landlord for a tenant’s dog?
Rarely, and only under specific conditions. The Colorado Court of Appeals decided the leading case, Wilson v. Marchiondo, in 2005. A child was bitten in the backyard of a rented home by the tenants’ Rottweiler. The court held three things. First, the Premises Liability Act, C.R.S. 13-21-115, is the only route to recovery against the landlord. Second, once the landlord leased the home and gave up possession, the landlord was no longer the person in possession of the property and owed no duty for what happened there afterward. Third, for the period before the lease, when the landlord was in possession, the landlord could be liable to a social guest only if the landlord actually knew, before entering into the lease, of the danger the dog presented.
The court then said what does not prove that knowledge. Consenting to the dog does not. Knowing the dog’s breed does not. A “Beware of Dog” sign does not. Learning of the dog’s behavior after the lease does not. The rule is narrow by design: the landlord must have actually known this dog was dangerous before signing the lease.
Landlord cases therefore turn on evidence of what the landlord knew and when. Prior complaints, a prior bite report, an email from a neighbor, a lease clause acknowledging a dangerous animal. Without evidence of that kind, the claim against the landlord usually fails, and the claim proceeds against the tenant-owner alone.
What about a homeowner whose guest brought the dog?
The Premises Liability Act applies to the person in possession of the property. A homeowner hosting a friend’s dog may be a “landowner” under the Act and, separately, may be a “dog owner” under the dog bite statute if the homeowner had control or custody of the dog. Under the Act, what the homeowner owes depends on the injured person’s status. An invitee, such as a customer, may recover for dangers the landowner knew or should have known about. A licensee, which includes a social guest, may recover only for dangers the landowner actually knew about and failed to warn of or guard against. A trespasser may recover only for injury willfully or deliberately caused. The court, not the jury, decides which category applies.
Dog sitters, walkers and boarding facilities
The statute defines “dog owner” to include a person having control or custody of a dog. A sitter walking the dog, or a boarding kennel keeping it, is plausibly within that language. No Colorado appellate court has decided the question, so an injured person in that situation should expect the sitter’s insurer to contest it. The practical point is the opposite one: if you are the sitter or the kennel, you may be the defendant. Check your own coverage before you take the dog.
What if the dog never touched you?
The statute requires a bite. The Colorado Supreme Court addressed a no-contact case in N.M. v. Trujillo in 2017. An eight-year-old walking past a yard was rushed by two dogs that threw themselves against a chain-link fence. The dogs never left the yard and never touched the child. The child ran into the street and was hit by a van. The Court held that the dog owner owed no duty of care on those facts, because the owner had not acted, and a claim based on a failure to act requires a special relationship between the parties that did not exist. The Court did not decide whether a dog owner could be liable when a dog directly attacks someone without a bite; it left that question open. The lesson is narrow. A fright injury caused by a confined dog is a hard case. An injury caused by a loose dog knocking someone down is a different case, and it is analyzed under ordinary negligence.
Government dogs
Police and military dogs working in the performance of duties are excluded from the statute by subsection (5)(c), and subsection (6)(c) preserves the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act for every public entity. A claim arising from a city, county or state dog therefore follows the Act’s rules. Written notice must be filed within 182 days of discovering the injury under C.R.S. 24-10-109, the public entity has 90 days to respond before suit can be filed, and damages are capped. For injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2026, the cap is $505,000 per person and $1,421,000 per occurrence, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s current certificate of limitations on judgments. The notice period is not extended for children.
Dog parks and off-leash areas
Denver’s code makes it unlawful for an owner to let a dog run at large, with an exception for a designated off-leash enclosure where the dog is supervised by an adult. A bite inside a dog park is still a bite under the statute, and the owner is still the owner. The difference is in the negligence analysis. Both owners chose to be there, both dogs were off leash by permission, and the questions become which owner saw what and when. The animal-control report and the other owners present are the evidence.
For a longer discussion of how premises claims are proved, see Part I of our personal injury guide. For your own situation, start with a free consultation with Jacobs Law.
Part VII: What Happens If Your Dog Bites Someone in Colorado
If your dog bites someone in Colorado, four things can happen at once: a civil claim against you for the injured person’s losses, a criminal charge under the dangerous-dog statute, a municipal process that can classify your dog as dangerous and impose conditions, and a public-health order to confine the dog for observation. Most owners face only the first and last. This Part explains all four, because the injured person’s lawyer will be thinking about all four.
Your immediate duties
Confine the dog. Colorado’s rabies-control statute lets the health officer order you to confine the animal, at your expense, on your premises or at a shelter, for the observation period the state sets, which is ten days. Denver’s code requires an owner to notify the city immediately after a bite that breaks the skin and to confine the animal. Cooperate with the inspection. Obstructing it is itself a violation. Give the injured person your name, contact information and proof of the dog’s rabies vaccination. Do not argue about fault at the scene, and do not offer to pay medical bills in exchange for a promise not to report. That promise is unenforceable and the offer is evidence.
Then call your homeowners or renters insurer. Most policies cover a dog bite under personal liability coverage, subject to the limit and to any breed exclusion in the policy. The insurer will handle the civil claim. Your job is to report promptly, preserve what you know, and avoid statements to the injured person’s lawyer or insurer that your own insurer has not approved.
The civil claim against you
Part I through Part IV describe it from the other side. The short version is that if the bite caused serious bodily injury, you are liable for the injured person’s economic losses regardless of what you knew about your dog, and you are liable for non-economic losses if you were negligent. Your defenses are the six exceptions and comparative fault, described in Part III. The strongest of these in practice are trespass, a clearly posted warning on your own property, and knowing provocation. The weakest is “the dog had never bitten anyone,” because the statute says that does not matter.
Criminal exposure under the dangerous-dog statute
Colorado makes it a crime to own a dangerous dog, under C.R.S. 18-9-204.5. A dangerous dog is one that has inflicted bodily or serious bodily injury on, or caused the death of, a person or domestic animal, or that demonstrates tendencies that would cause a reasonable person to believe it may do so, or that is trained for fighting. The penalties scale with the harm.
What the dog did | Offense class |
Bodily injury to a person | Class 2 misdemeanor |
Serious bodily injury to a person | Class 1 misdemeanor; a second or later violation is a class 6 felony |
Death of a person | Class 5 felony |
Injury to or death of a domestic animal | Class 2 misdemeanor, with restitution to the animal’s owner |
The statute also imposes duties on the owner of a dog that has been found dangerous, including confinement requirements and disclosure to anyone who later takes the dog. The civil statute says expressly that it does not affect these criminal provisions, so a civil settlement does not end a criminal case, and a criminal acquittal does not end a civil claim.
Denver’s dangerous-animal process
Denver’s municipal code runs a separate administrative process. After a bite, the city may classify a dog as “potentially dangerous” for lesser injuries or menacing conduct, or as “dangerous” for serious bodily injury or for a repeat violation after a potentially-dangerous finding. A potentially-dangerous designation requires an annual permit, a microchip and notices. Owning a dog classified as dangerous within the city is unlawful. The owner is entitled to a hearing before the designation becomes final, and the hearing record is a public record that the injured person’s lawyer will obtain. Centennial and other metro cities run their own versions through their animal-services agencies.
Denver also still regulates pit bull-type dogs. Voters repealed the city’s ban in November 2020. Since January 1, 2021, owning a pit bull-type dog in Denver requires a Breed-Restricted Permit, limited to two such dogs per household, with the permit requirement lifted after three years without a violation. An owner who kept a restricted dog without the permit should expect that fact to appear in any negligence claim.
Can the court order my dog euthanized?
Yes, in one circumstance. Under subsection (3) of the dog bite statute, in a civil case in which it is alleged and proved that the owner had knowledge or notice of the dog’s viciousness or dangerous propensities, the court may, on the injured person’s motion, order the dog euthanized at the owner’s expense. The order requires proof of prior knowledge. A first bite by a dog with no history does not support it. Municipal proceedings have their own rules about disposition of a dangerous dog, which is one more reason to take the city’s hearing seriously.
A note from a dog owner
Kim and I own two dogs, and I have read every word of this Part as an owner, not only as a lawyer. The rules are not designed to punish people who keep dogs. They are designed to put the cost of a serious injury on the person best positioned to prevent it, and to get a dangerous animal under supervision before it hurts someone else. The owners who come through these cases best are the ones who confine the dog, report promptly, call their insurer the same day, and let the insurer speak for them.
Frequently asked questions
Is Colorado a strict liability state for dog bites?
Partly. Under C.R.S. 13-21-124, an owner is strictly liable for economic damages when a bite causes serious bodily injury or death to a person lawfully on public or private property, regardless of the dog’s history. For lesser injuries, and for pain and suffering in any case, the injured person must prove negligence.
Does Colorado follow the one-bite rule?
Only for ordinary negligence claims. The common-law one-bite rule asks whether the owner knew the dog was dangerous. Colorado replaced that rule for serious bodily injury or death with strict liability in 2004. For injuries that fall short of that definition, the negligence claim and the knowledge question remain.
How long do I have to file a dog bite lawsuit in Colorado?
Two years from the bite under C.R.S. 13-80-102, for both the strict-liability claim and the negligence claim. A child without a court-appointed representative has until two years after turning 18. If a government entity owned the dog, written notice is required within 182 days, with no extension for children.
Who pays for a dog bite in Colorado?
Almost always the owner’s homeowners or renters insurer, within the policy limit and subject to any breed exclusion. The Insurance Information Institute reports typical liability limits of $100,000 to $300,000. The owner is personally responsible for amounts above the limit. Your health insurer pays medical bills first and may seek repayment under Colorado’s made-whole rule.
Is a dog bite settlement taxable in Colorado?
Generally no. Under IRS Publication 4345, compensation for physical injuries, including emotional distress that flows from them, is not taxable income. Punitive damages and interest are taxable. Colorado follows the federal treatment for income-tax purposes. Confirm your own situation with a tax professional.
Can I sue a landlord if a tenant’s dog bit me in Colorado?
Only under the Premises Liability Act, and only if the landlord actually knew the dog was dangerous before entering into the lease. The Colorado Court of Appeals set that rule in Wilson v. Marchiondo in 2005. Knowing the breed, allowing the dog, or seeing a warning sign is not enough.
Can a dog sitter or dog walker be liable for a bite?
Possibly. The statute defines “dog owner” to include anyone having control or custody of a dog, which is broad enough to reach a sitter or walker. No Colorado appellate court has decided the question. A sitter or walker should assume the answer may be yes and check their own insurance before accepting a dog.
What happens to the dog after it bites someone in Colorado?
The health department can order the owner to confine the dog for a ten-day rabies observation period, on the owner’s property or at a shelter. The city may classify the dog as potentially dangerous or dangerous, with conditions. In a civil case, a court may order euthanasia only on proof that the owner knew of the dog’s dangerous propensities before the bite.
Do I need a lawyer for a minor dog bite?
If you were treated by a doctor, a free consultation is worth the hour. The injury that looks minor in week one is sometimes a serious bodily injury by week six, and the choices made in week one, especially statements to the insurer, cannot be undone. If no one was hurt, you likely do not need a lawyer. We will tell you which it is.
Closing note
This guide is general information about Colorado law and is not legal advice. Nothing in it creates an attorney-client relationship. It is attorney advertising. Prior results, including any result described in this guide, do not guarantee a similar outcome, and every case depends on its facts. Statutes and case law change; this guide reflects the law as we understood it on the date shown at the top. Consult a licensed Colorado attorney about your own situation.
Jacobs Law, PLLC is a personal injury law firm at 6767 S Spruce St, Suite 115, Centennial, CO 80112. Attorney Dan Jacobs handles every case personally, and Kim Jacobs manages every file. Consultations are free, and there is no fee unless we recover for you. Call (303) 529-4040, or read more about how we work and the terms we use in this guide.
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