Video – Attorney Steven Gacovino Explains Why It Is EASIER For New York Dog Bite Victims To Litigate Their Injuries
Video Transcript
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
Hi, I’m Ray Hrdlicka, your host for Attorneys.Media Legal Commentary Interview.
Today, we have Steve Gacovino, a personal injury attorney and social media youth harm attorney in Long Island, New York.
And we’re going to talk about something that’s been in the news and has recently changed with a very, very significant difference to the injured party, obviously personal injury here.
And Steve, I’d like you to talk about the recent changes that occurred with dog bite incidents in the state of New York.
In April of this year, you know, we talked prior to this interview, there was a significant change and that change really opened up a path for dog bite victims to obviously get, you know, recompense and get whole again as any personal injury case involved.
Tell us about that. Let’s start with how long has the law been in effect before this recent change and what it was?
Steven Gacovino – Personal Injury Attorney – Suffolk County (Long Island), New York
Okay, so thank you for the question, Ray, and thank you for having me on.
So this, there was the concept or the principle that we use the regular vernacular amongst personal injury lawyers is the one bite rule.
Essentially what it meant, it didn’t strictly translate into that, but it meant that if you knew or should have known that your dog had vicious propensities, then and only then could you be held liable for a subsequent attack.
So how do you know it?
The way you know it is if the dog did it before.
And if it’s documented that they did it before, they would be held to a strict liability standard. So, they would kind of be stuck with it if there was something on record.
Like if I could go, if there was a reported incident, to the county or to the Department of Health that this dog bit before, if that dog came and bit me again, then or bit somebody again, then we can make a claim against that dog owner, they would be held liable for now.
But really, where the doors have opened up and how things have changed, we have now added a different way to hold the dog owner liable.
And the answer is just regular negligence.
In other words, dog owners like anybody else, whether we’re driving a car, whether we’re building a sidewalk, whether we’re shoveling snow, we all have to be reasonable under the circumstances that we all have, we all have a duty of reasonable care in whatever it is that we’re undertaking.
Reasonable care is now the standard. So, because of this new recent ruling, this is a case, it’s brought about by case law.
The case is, I think the name of the case is Flanders versus Goodfella, but it’s Court of Appeals case in April of 2025 in New York State.
It simply changed, flipped the law in its head.
It threw out that old standard, or I shouldn’t say threw out the old standard, but added other ways in which one can get compensated for an injury you suffered from a dog bite.
And now going back to some of the stuff that you had said, how long has it been in place?
Forever.
When I say legally forever, my whole entire 32-year career in law, it was always, well, don’t bite anybody before, right?
So, but going back further than that, you could dig deep and it goes all the way back to English common law.
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
Oh my gosh.
Steven Gacovino – Personal Injury Attorney – Suffolk County (Long Island), New York
So it’s, we’re talking about preexisting New York state, that English common law actually established some general principle with this idea, never codified in New York state.
But case law adapted it in 1816, and it’s been repeated and cited and used ever since until now.
But the law of the land right now in New York is that you could hold a dog owner liable for the dog owner’s ordinary negligence if somebody was harmed by that dog.
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
You know, just listening to you with this explanation, going back before the law change, the first person, who… ever got bitten by a quote let’s say vicious dog or even a startled dog, they had no path whatsoever to move forward.
It’s obviously then only the second, the third, the fourth person would have an option to get compensated legally to be able to move forward.
That would seem to me that law should have been changed a heck of a long time ago because the first one gets a pass.
Steven Gacovino – Personal Injury Attorney – Suffolk County (Long Island), New York
As a plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer, I certainly couldn’t agree with you more.
Yeah, but and I don’t say that just from a from a business point of view, but no, but logically, logically it just makes sense.
Why not negligence there? Why do they not owe a reasonable duty of care under those set of circumstances? Because I was always able to make negligence arguments.
You didn’t restrain the dog properly.
You didn’t fence the dog properly.
You didn’t warn us that you had a dog in the backyard.
So, there was always something that said, well, you didn’t act reasonably under the circumstances.
So… But that got us nowhere up until now. But everything is changing now.
And, but Ray, when I talk about dog bite cases, I’ve seen some horrific injuries.
I’ve seen young people come into this office with bites on their face. And I’ve had to struggle to try to make some kind of argument to find something in that dog’s past where you could say, well, that’s indicia of a vicious propensity, right?
Like, so not necessarily a reported dog bite.
You’re very rarely found that clean case, but you might have a witness, a neighbor who might be willing to say something, say, you know, that dog acted aggressively or that dog barked aggressively.
That dog ran to the fence when I, you know, when I was crossing past that property and he showed his teeth, he snarled or he, or he, looked like he was ready to attack another dog.
You needed to have something that would kind of complete the story. It was just not the easiest thing to do.
And, but always… I could find something that said, this person didn’t exercise their duty in the right way.
They didn’t have the dog on the leash in many instances. The dog might be loose on a front lawn and just jump at somebody and attack somebody. And if that was the first bite and I couldn’t prove a propensity for viciousness, guess what?
I couldn’t get the person compensated.
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
I recently read, well actually it’s not recently, about a year ago I read a story about an apartment complex somewhere, the Bronx, Staten Island, I don’t recall where, the family just got a couple of dogs, young dogs, and they attacked a child, a very young child living next door, and they killed the child, and you couldn’t sue them because there was no history. It was really sad. A horrific outcome.
Steven Gacovino – Personal Injury Attorney – Suffolk County (Long Island), New York
It’s a horrific event.
And I don’t know if that particular case was in the consciousness of the Court of Appeals at the time of the ruling, but certainly…
But certainly, I think this is a just development, an appropriate development.
And honestly, I have dog bite cases where I’m now able to use this law and this change in this law to the benefit of these victims. Right.
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
Well, that’s a huge piece of news for any victim of a dog bite in the state of New York.
And I’m hoping that obviously everybody who is in that situation recognizes the change and contacts a personal injury attorney yourself or other people because it’s the right thing to do.
Steven Gacovino – Personal Injury Attorney – Suffolk County (Long Island), New York
I agree with you.
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
Well, thank you very much and we’ll talk to you next month.
Steven Gacovino – Personal Injury Attorney – Suffolk County (Long Island), New York
All right. Thank you very much, Ray.
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