Dog Bite Injury Attorney Serving Rhode Island & Massachusetts

Helping You Recover What You’re Owed

Dog bites are not minor incidents. A bite from a medium or large dog can cause deep puncture wounds, torn muscles, nerve damage, and broken bones, which can be serious enough to require surgery, leave permanent scarring, and produce lasting psychological effects including post-traumatic stress. Children are disproportionately affected, often suffering facial injuries that require reconstructive procedures. When a dog attack leaves someone with injuries that are going to affect their life for months or years, the law in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts provides a path to hold the owner accountable. At Corrao & Robles Law, attorney Amanda L. Corrao represents dog bite victims throughout both states.

How Do Dog Bite Claims Work in Rhode Island and Massachusetts?

Strict Liability, Owner Responsibility, and What You Have to Prove

Rhode Island and Massachusetts both impose strict liability on dog owners for injuries their animals cause. Strict liability means you don’t have to prove the owner knew the dog was dangerous. You don’t have to show prior bite history. You don’t have to establish negligence in the traditional sense. The law puts the responsibility squarely on the owner: if their dog bites someone, they owe compensation for the resulting injuries, full stop.

Rhode Island’s dog bite statute holds owners liable when their dog injures a person in public or lawfully on private property. The statute does not require proof that the owner had any reason to expect the dog would bite. Massachusetts follows a similar framework under Chapter 140, Section 155, which imposes strict liability on dog owners for damage caused by their animals. Both statutes have narrow exceptions: if the injured person was trespassing, teasing, tormenting, or otherwise provoking the dog, the owner may have a defense. Those exceptions get raised routinely by insurance companies, even when the provocation argument is weak or fabricated.

The injuries in these cases cover a wider range than people expect. Beyond the initial bite wound, dog attacks can cause crush injuries when a large dog knocks someone to the ground, secondary injuries from falls, serious infections, including potentially life-threatening infections like capnocytophaga, extensive scarring and disfigurement, permanent nerve damage, and psychological conditions including PTSD, panic disorder, and new-onset phobias. Children who suffer facial bites frequently require multiple reconstructive surgeries over years. The long-term medical picture in a serious dog attack is rarely settled quickly, and accepting a settlement before that picture is clear leaves money on the table.

Insurance companies handling dog bite claims are not neutral parties. They know the strict liability framework works against their client and will look for every available angle to minimize the payout. Provocation arguments, questions about the severity of the injuries, disputes over scarring or the need for reconstructive procedures, and early lowball settlement offers are all standard tactics. In some cases, insurers will delay aggressively, hoping the injured person settles out of financial necessity before the full extent of their damages is known.

Dog Bites Involving Children

Children under twelve represent a disproportionate share of serious dog bite injuries, and the injuries they sustain are often the most severe. A dog’s head-level strike for an adult is face-level for a small child. Bites to the face, head, and neck are more common in child victims. Reconstructive surgeries, which are sometimes multiple procedures over multiple years, are not uncommon. The emotional and psychological effects on children can be significant and long-lasting. Valuing these claims properly requires understanding the full arc of medical treatment needed, not just what’s been done so far.

How We Can Help After a Dog Bite

The evidence in these cases needs to be gathered quickly and carefully.

  • Documenting the injuries from the initial attack through all treatment and follow-up procedures
  • Identifying all applicable insurance coverage, including homeowner’s and renter’s policies
  • Building the full damages picture, including future medical needs and psychological treatment

Building and Filing Your Dog Bite Claim

  • Photographing injuries at every stage of healing to document the full scope of damage
  • Obtaining animal control records, bite history reports, and any prior complaints about the dog
  • Identifying and interviewing witnesses to the attack
  • Collecting medical records from emergency treatment through all follow-up care
  • Working with medical experts on the projected cost of reconstructive procedures or scar revision
  • Retaining mental health professionals to document PTSD or anxiety resulting from the attack
  • Researching homeowner’s and renter’s insurance policies covering the owner
  • Documenting lost income for the injured person and, where a child is involved, for caregiving parents

What to Expect: The Dog Bite Claim Process

Case Review and Evidence Preservation:

We review the facts of the attack, document the injuries, and identify every party who may be responsible. Insurance coverage follows the owner — homeowner’s and renter’s policies typically cover dog bite liability — and identifying those policies early shapes the claim strategy.

Medical Documentation:

We work with your treating physicians and, when necessary, consulting medical experts to document the current injuries and project the full course of future treatment. Scarring assessment, reconstructive surgery planning, and psychological evaluation all feed into a complete damages picture.

Demand and Negotiation:

We prepare a detailed demand package and present it to the responsible insurer. Many dog bite cases resolve at this stage. When the insurer refuses to account for the full scope of injuries — particularly future medical needs or psychological harm — we prepare for litigation.

Litigation:

When insurers hold to unfair positions, we file suit and take the case through discovery and, if necessary, to trial. Attorney Corrao is experienced in Rhode Island and Massachusetts courts and understands how juries in both states assess dog bite claims.

Why Choose Corrao & Robles Law?

Strict liability expertise:

We understand both states’ dog bite statutes and how insurers attack them

Child injury experience:

We handle the particular complexity of claims involving injured children

Contingency representation:

No fees unless we recover

Full damages documentation:

We don’t settle before the medical picture is clear

Frequently Asked Questions

No. Rhode Island and Massachusetts are both strict liability states for dog bites. You do not have to show prior bite history or prove the owner had any reason to believe the dog was dangerous. The owner is liable simply because their dog bit you, as long as you were lawfully in the location where the bite occurred and were not provoking the animal. This is a meaningful legal protection. In states that follow the old “one bite rule,” a victim had to prove the owner knew of the dog’s dangerous propensity, usually by showing a prior bite. Neither Rhode Island nor Massachusetts requires that showing. Attorney Corrao can help you understand how the strict liability framework applies to the specific facts of your situation.

Provocation is the primary defense in strict liability dog bite cases, and insurance companies raise it regularly. What counts as provocation under Rhode Island and Massachusetts law is narrower than what insurers often claim. A child reaching out to pet an unfamiliar dog is not provocation in the legal sense. Simply being near a dog, making eye contact, or moving quickly does not constitute provocation. The defense requires actual conduct that a reasonable person would recognize as likely to cause an aggressive response. We gather witness statements, photograph the scene, and build the record to counter provocation arguments before they take hold. If you’re concerned about how your actions before the bite will be characterized, walk through the facts with Attorney Corrao before making any statements to the insurance company.

Yes. Psychological injuries are compensable damages in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts dog bite cases. Post-traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, anxiety, and specific phobias that develop after a serious dog attack are recognized injuries with real treatment costs and real effects on quality of life. Documenting these injuries properly matters. A one-time mention of anxiety in a medical record is not the same as a formal PTSD diagnosis supported by psychological evaluation and treatment records. We work with mental health professionals to document the full psychological impact of the attack, particularly in cases where the victim is a child whose developmental trajectory has been affected.

Compensation depends on the nature and severity of the injuries, but generally covers emergency medical treatment, surgeries and follow-up procedures, reconstructive surgery and scar revision, lost wages during recovery, psychological treatment, and pain and suffering. In cases involving serious scarring or permanent disfigurement, damages for the ongoing physical and emotional impact of those permanent injuries are a significant part of the claim. Future medical costs, including additional reconstructive procedures that haven’t happened yet, are recoverable if they can be projected with reasonable certainty. Attorney Corrao builds claims with an eye toward the full future picture, not just what’s already been billed.

Being on private property at the time of the attack does not defeat a dog bite claim as long as you were there lawfully. A guest in someone’s home, a delivery driver, a meter reader, or a neighbor visiting are all lawfully present and protected under Rhode Island and Massachusetts dog bite statutes. Trespassers are generally not covered, though the analysis can vary depending on circumstances. If you were injured on someone else’s property, your right to pursue a claim depends on why you were there and whether you had permission to be there, not simply that you weren’t on public ground. Attorney Corrao reviews the circumstances of every attack before drawing any conclusions about coverage.

Talk to a Dog Bite Attorney

Dog bite injuries can be more serious and longer-lasting than they first appear. If you or your child was attacked by a dog in Rhode Island or Massachusetts, Corrao & Robles Law is ready to review your situation and help you understand your options.

Contact us today for a free consultation.