Dog bites and animal attacks are personal injury claims with two unusual features. First, they almost always run through the owner’s homeowner’s or renter’s insurance — meaning the actual defendant is a Fortune 500 insurer with experienced defense counsel, not the neighbor whose dog bit you. Second, the legal framework varies enormously by state. Some states impose strict liability on owners (the bite alone creates liability, regardless of the dog’s history). Other states follow the "one-bite rule" — the owner is only liable if they knew or should have known the dog had vicious propensities. Which rule applies, and how it’s being applied, determines what the case is worth. An attorney also handles the photographing and documenting of scarring, the future-revision-surgery projections, and the psychological-injury claims (particularly common in child victims) that adjusters routinely undervalue.