Who Pays When a Dog Bites You? Homeowner Insurance, Renters Insurance, and Landlord Liability in PA
The first question every Pennsylvania dog bite client asks is: "Who pays?" The answer is almost always the dog owner's homeowner's or renter's insurance — but the details matter, and there are layers of coverage most clients never realize exist.
1. The dog owner's homeowner's insurance
Standard Pennsylvania homeowner's policies include personal-liability coverage — typically $100,000 to $500,000 — that automatically covers dog bites no matter where they happen (in the owner's home, at a park, on a sidewalk, in a friend's yard). The coverage pays medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, scarring and disfigurement, and legal defense costs (which means the insurance company will defend the owner — and is highly motivated to settle).
Breed exclusions
Some PA carriers exclude specific breeds — pit bulls, Rottweilers, Doberman pinschers, Akitas, chow chows, wolf hybrids — from coverage. If the policy excludes the breed, the owner is personally liable and we pursue their personal assets. This is uncommon but real; we check every policy.
2. The dog owner's renter's insurance
Renter's policies include the same personal-liability coverage as homeowner's policies — usually $100,000 to $300,000. If the dog owner rents, the renter's policy is the primary source of recovery. Most renters have it; some do not.
3. Umbrella policies
Wealthier PA suburbs (Main Line, Mt. Lebanon, Sewickley, Newtown, Doylestown, Camp Hill) commonly carry $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 umbrella policies that sit on top of the primary homeowner's policy. The umbrella triggers once the primary is exhausted. In a serious facial-scarring case, the umbrella is often the difference between a $300,000 settlement and a $1.5 million settlement.
4. Landlord liability — when the landlord also pays
Pennsylvania landlords are generally NOT liable for a tenant's dog. But there are three scenarios where they are:
- Known dangerous propensities. The landlord knew the dog had bitten before and did nothing.
- Common-area bites. The bite happened in a hallway, lobby, shared yard, or parking lot the landlord controls.
- Lease violations. The lease prohibited the breed (e.g., "no aggressive breeds") and the landlord knew and ignored the violation.
When landlord liability applies, we pursue the landlord's commercial-liability or rental-dwelling policy in addition to the tenant's coverage.
5. Business-pursuits coverage
If the bite happened on commercial property — a daycare, groomer, kennel, vet office, hotel, Airbnb — the business's commercial general liability policy covers the bite, often with $1,000,000+ in limits. Airbnb provides $1,000,000 in host liability automatically.
6. The victim's own coverage
In rare cases where no other coverage applies, the victim's own homeowner's or health insurance may pay medical bills under "med pay" or major medical. We do not encourage this — the goal is always to put the cost on the dog owner — but it is a backstop.
7. Postal carriers, UPS, FedEx, and Amazon drivers
Delivery workers bitten on duty have two sources of recovery: (1) workers' compensation through their employer (pays wages and medical), and (2) a third-party liability claim against the dog owner's homeowner's policy (pays pain, suffering, and scarring damages workers' comp does not pay). The combined recovery is significantly larger than workers' comp alone.
What happens if the dog owner has no insurance at all?
This is uncommon — most PA homeowners and renters carry liability coverage. But when it happens, we pursue the owner's personal assets (home equity, savings, garnishable wages) and any household policy that might apply (a parent's, a spouse's, an adult child's). We have collected from uninsured defendants before; it just takes longer.
Free consultation
If you are not sure what insurance applies to your case, we will figure it out for free. Call (717) 724-7503 or request a free consultation. See our Pennsylvania Dog Bite Lawyer hub for the full overview of PA dog bite law.
Serving injured Pennsylvanians in: Philadelphia.
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