Home › Charleston Injury › Dog Bites
Bitten in Charleston? State law holds the owner liable without any proof the dog had ever bitten before.
Most Charleston dog attacks happen in ordinary places. A sidewalk on the peninsula. A courtyard gate that was not latched. A cookout in West Ashley where the family dog got loose. A delivery route in Park Circle. The bite lasts a second, and then come the deep puncture wounds that drive bacteria under the skin, the tetanus and rabies questions in the emergency room, the stitches, and for a lot of people a flinch around dogs that never fully goes away. If the owner keeps telling you the dog has never done this before, understand that under South Carolina law that sentence does not decide anything.
Schiller and Hamilton Law Firm handles these claims from our Charleston office at 1629 Meeting Street Road. We know what the dog bite statute actually requires, what animal control and health department records tend to show, and how adjusters try to turn a bite into the injured person’s own fault. The consultation is free, our fee is contingency based, and you owe nothing unless we recover for you. Call 843-350-5420.
You do not have to prove the dog had a history. South Carolina Code Section 47-3-110(A) says that if a person is bitten or otherwise attacked by a dog while that person is in a public place or is lawfully in a private place, including the dog owner’s own property, the owner, or whoever had the dog in their care or keeping, is liable for the damages that person suffered. Nothing in that sentence asks whether the owner knew the animal was dangerous.
So the one bite rule, which plenty of websites still repeat, is not the law here. The South Carolina Supreme Court moved away from the old common law approach in 1985 in Hossenlopp ex rel. Hossenlopp v. Cannon, a case brought for a four year old boy, and the General Assembly wrote the current statute the following year. A first bite counts. So does an attack that is not a bite, since the statute says bitten or otherwise attacked, which can reach a large dog that drives someone down a set of piazza steps.
The statute is narrower on defenses than most people expect. Section 47-3-110(B) lists only two situations where it does not apply. The first is provocation: the person who was attacked provoked or harassed the dog, and that provocation was the proximate cause of the attack. Both halves matter. An adjuster who says you waved your arms has not made a provocation defense unless that conduct is what actually caused the dog to attack. The second exception covers a certified law enforcement dog working under a handler’s lawful command, and it carries its own list of conditions, including that the bite did not land on a bystander.
Lawful presence is the other piece, and the statute defines it generously. You are lawfully in a private place when you are there performing a duty imposed by state law, by a local ordinance, or by federal law, which the statute says expressly includes postal regulations. You are also lawfully there on the express or implied invitation of the property owner, a lawful tenant, or a resident. Letter carriers, meter readers, delivery drivers and invited guests are covered. A trespasser generally is not, which is why insurers push hard on where exactly you were standing.
Here is the part clients find hardest. The dog that bit you very often belongs to someone you know. A neighbor two doors down. A friend hosting a party. A relative. People tell us they would rather absorb a five figure hospital bill than sue somebody they see at church. That instinct is understandable and it is usually based on a wrong assumption about where the money comes from.
Homeowners and renters insurance commonly covers liability for dog bites, and the owner has been paying for that coverage precisely so this is not a personal transaction. In most cases the claim is handled by an adjuster, negotiated with the carrier, and paid out of the policy, not out of your neighbor’s savings. Some policies carve out particular breeds or exclude a dog already declared dangerous, so the policy language has to be read rather than assumed. A claim can cover emergency and follow up treatment, reconstructive or plastic surgery, lost wages, permanent scarring and disfigurement, and the anxiety that a serious attack leaves behind.
Children are bitten differently than adults. A small child’s face is at the height of a large dog’s head, so the wounds land on the cheek, lip, eyelid, ear and scalp rather than on a forearm. Children also cannot read a dog’s warning signals or get out of the way. Facial wounds matter legally as well as medically: scars on a growing face can be revised repeatedly over years, the cosmetic result is not known for a long time, and the damages have to account for surgeries a child has not had yet.
Section 47-3-110 contains no separate rule for children, and no age floor, so its strict liability applies to a bitten toddler exactly as it does to an adult. On provocation, remember the statute requires that the provocation proximately caused the attack, and South Carolina judges a child’s conduct against what can be expected of a child of like age and capacity rather than an adult standard. Settling a minor’s claim is also different: South Carolina Code Section 62-5-433 requires a court to review and approve it.
Under South Carolina Code Section 15-3-530, an action for injury to the person carries a three year limitation period, and a dog bite claim falls inside it. Miss that date and the claim is gone regardless of how clear the liability was.
A child’s claim runs on a different clock. Section 15-3-40 provides that if the person entitled to sue was under eighteen when the cause of action accrued, the time of that disability does not count against the limitation period, though the action cannot be brought later than one year after the disability ends. Do not treat that as breathing room. Shorter deadlines and notice requirements can apply when a government entity owned or controlled the dog, and evidence decays quickly either way: witnesses move, the quarantine file closes, and the wound photographs nobody took cannot be recreated.
Get treated first. Puncture wounds look small and seed infection deep, and the emergency department will also assess tetanus and rabies risk. Report the bite. South Carolina Code Section 47-5-90 requires the treating physician to report an animal bite to the county health department by the end of the next working day, and Section 47-5-100 requires the animal to be quarantined for at least ten days after it bit someone. City of Charleston ordinance Section 5-86 puts that duty on the owner or custodian directly and requires them to notify the health department. That file is evidence.
Then get the owner’s name, address and phone number, and the dog’s rabies vaccination record. Photograph the wounds before they are dressed and again as they heal, plus the location, any broken gate or open fence, and torn clothing. Get contact details for anyone who saw it. Keep every bill and discharge instruction. Call us at 843-350-5420 before you give a recorded statement.
No. Section 47-3-110 makes the owner or keeper liable for a bite or attack on a person who was in a public place or lawfully in a private place, with no requirement that the dog had bitten before or that the owner knew it was dangerous. The first bite is enough.
Generally three years from the date of injury under Section 15-3-530. A child’s claim is treated separately: Section 15-3-40 does not count the years of minority against the deadline, but the suit must be brought within one year after that disability ends. Ask early rather than late.
The statute requires more than an allegation. Provocation defeats the claim only if you provoked or harassed the dog and that provocation was the proximate cause of the attack. Witnesses, the animal control file and the dog’s own history usually settle the argument.
Almost always the claim is paid by homeowners or renters liability insurance, not out of the owner’s pocket. That is what the coverage is for. We deal with the adjuster and read the policy for breed exclusions or limits before anyone is asked to sign anything.
Yes. A reported bite creates a quarantine and animal control record that documents the dog and the owner. City of Charleston Section 5-4 also requires dogs off the owner’s property to be leashed. Call 843-350-5420 for a free review.
No fee unless we recover.
Charleston Office, Answering 24/7
Get a free, no obligation review of your Charleston dog bite claim. No fee unless we recover.
