Dog Bite Demand Letter - New Jersey

NEW JERSEY DOG-BITE SETTLEMENT DEMAND

Attorney review required before transmission. This demand is a settlement communication, not a complaint or a substitute for a claim-specific limitations analysis. Complete only statements supported by the evidence, the issued insurance policy, and current controlling law.

1. Sender and Recipient

Firm: [________________________________]
Attorney: [________________________________]
New Jersey Attorney ID: [________________________________]
Address: [________________________________]
Telephone: [________________________________]
Email: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

Delivery method:

• ☐ Certified mail, return receipt requested
• ☐ First-class mail
• ☐ Email
• ☐ Insurer portal
• ☐ Other: [________________________________]

Recipient: [________________________________]
Company / owner: [________________________________]
Address / email: [________________________________]

2. Claim Identification

Claimant: [________________________________]
Dog owner: [________________________________]
Date and time of incident: [__/__/____] at [____]
Location: [________________________________]
Claim number: [________________________________]
Policy number: [________________________________]
Dog description: [________________________________]

Re: Settlement demand arising from dog bite

Dear [________________________________]:

Our firm represents [CLAIMANT] concerning injuries allegedly caused when a dog owned by [OWNER] bit [CLAIMANT] on [DATE] at [LOCATION]. This letter presents the supported facts, the statutory owner-liability theory under N.J.S.A. 4:19-16, the documented losses, and a time-limited settlement proposal.

3. Route and Element Screen

Complete this section before stating a statutory position.

3.1 Defendant and Event

Ownership evidence:

• ☐ License or registration
• ☐ Admission
• ☐ Animal-control record
• ☐ Veterinary record
• ☐ Witness statement
• ☐ Other: [________________________________]

Event classification:

• ☐ The dog bit Claimant
• ☐ Contact occurred but whether it was a bite is disputed
• ☐ Injury arose without a bite

N.J.S.A. 4:19-16 is an owner-liability route for a dog bite. If the event was a non-bite attack, or the proposed defendant was a keeper, landlord, property owner, insurer, or another person rather than the dog's owner, do not attribute liability to § 4:19-16. Counsel must identify and verify the separate theory and its elements before adding it.

3.2 Place and Lawful Presence

At the time of the bite, Claimant was:

• ☐ In a public place: [________________________________]
• ☐ Lawfully in a private place by express invitation: [________________________________]
• ☐ Lawfully in a private place by implied invitation: [________________________________]
• ☐ On private property while performing a duty imposed by New Jersey or federal law or postal regulation: [________________________________]
• ☐ Other / disputed: [________________________________]

The current official Model Civil Jury Charge reproduces § 4:19-16's definition of lawful presence on an owner's private property: performance of a duty imposed by New Jersey or federal law or postal regulation, or presence by the owner's express or implied invitation. Attach the facts and documents supporting the selected route.

3.3 Conduct and Comparative-Fault Record

The current official charge recognizes a comparative-negligence issue when raised and frames the asserted defense around unreasonable and voluntary exposure to a known risk. Record the evidence without declaring the issue resolved:

Warnings allegedly given: [________________________________]
Claimant's knowledge or experience with the dog: [________________________________]
Claimant's conduct immediately before the bite: [________________________________]
Owner's conduct and control of the dog: [________________________________]
Other disputed facts: [________________________________]

N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1 states the comparative-negligence rule for covered negligence actions and reduces damages by the recovering person's percentage of negligence. Counsel must determine how the statute, the current charge, and controlling decisions apply to each pleaded route; do not convert the general statute into an automatic outcome for a statutory dog-bite claim.

3.4 Separate-Theory Gate

Add an ordinary-negligence, premises, ordinance, landlord, punitive-damages, animal-status, or other theory only after counsel records its current authority and facts here:

A leash or animal-control provision should not be labeled negligence per se, a dangerous-dog designation should not be treated as an additional civil cause of action, and a landlord should not be declared liable unless current controlling authority supports that conclusion for the facts.

4. Limitations and Notice Control

Except as otherwise provided by law, N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2(a) requires a covered personal-injury action to be commenced within two years after the cause accrues. The statute does not make the incident date the automatic accrual date for every claim and does not itself resolve tolling, party, governmental-claim, insurance-contract, or commencement questions.

Incident date: [__/__/____]
Claim and defendant classification: [________________________________]
Accrual analysis and authority: [________________________________]
Tolling analysis and authority: [________________________________]
Any government or contractual notice deadline: [________________________________]
Counsel-calculated filing deadline: [__/__/____]
Calendar verified by: [________________________________] on [__/__/____]

This demand and its response deadline do not toll or extend a filing deadline unless a binding written agreement or controlling law says otherwise.

5. Supported Facts

On [DATE], Claimant was [ACTIVITY] at [LOCATION]. The dog [FACTUAL DESCRIPTION OF BITE]. The following persons witnessed or responded to the incident:

Contemporaneous account: [________________________________]

Owner statement or admission: [________________________________]

Animal-control or police action: [________________________________]

Do not state that the dog was quarantined, designated dangerous or vicious, or subject to a particular control order unless the enclosed official record supports that statement.

6. Statutory Position

The statutory route requires proof that:

1. the proposed defendant owned the dog;
2. Claimant was in a public place or lawfully in a private place; and
3. the dog bit Claimant while Claimant was in that place.

The statute makes the owner's former knowledge of viciousness unnecessary to this route. Based on the evidence identified above, Claimant contends that the elements are satisfied as follows:

Ownership: [________________________________]
Bite: [________________________________]
Public place or lawful private presence: [________________________________]
Response to comparative-fault contention: [________________________________]

This is Claimant's settlement position. It does not declare liability established as a matter of law where ownership, a bite, lawful presence, comparative fault, causation, or damages remain disputed.

7. Injury and Treatment Record

Immediate injuries: [________________________________]
Emergency care: [________________________________]
Subsequent treatment: [________________________________]
Current symptoms and limitations: [________________________________]
Scarring or disfigurement: [________________________________]
Mental-health treatment or symptoms supported by records: [________________________________]
Prognosis stated by a treating or retained professional: [________________________________]
Future care supported by a provider: [________________________________]

Past medical total: $[________________________________]
Supported future-care estimate: $[________________________________]

8. Other Claimed Losses

Counsel must confirm the recoverability, proof standard, offsets, liens, and any applicable limitation for each category before assigning a legal conclusion or amount. Do not state that New Jersey has no applicable damages cap or that punitive damages, prejudgment interest, attorney's fees, or collateral-source treatment follow automatically.

9. Evidence-Preservation Request

Please take reasonable steps to preserve evidence within the recipient's possession, custody, or control that is relevant to this incident, including:

• photographs, video, doorbell or surveillance recordings;
• communications concerning the dog or incident;
• animal-control, licensing, vaccination, and veterinary records;
• prior incident or complaint records;
• applicable insurance policies, declarations, and endorsements;
• leases, pet agreements, training records, and confinement records; and
• the dog's location, custody, and identifying information.

This paragraph is a preservation request. It does not assert that this letter creates a duty, prohibits medically or legally required animal-control action, or guarantees an adverse inference or sanction. Counsel should send any examination or testing request separately with a current duty, control, proportionality, and safety analysis.

10. Insurance and Coverage Information

Please identify the carrier, claim number, named insured, and adjuster for each potentially responsive policy. If coverage is accepted, please confirm the applicable limits or provide the disclosure required by controlling law. If coverage is reserved or denied, please identify the relied-on policy language and provide the relevant form and endorsements if disclosure is authorized or required.

Carrier position: [________________________________]
Policy / endorsement references: [________________________________]
Other insurance: [________________________________]

11. Settlement Proposal

To resolve the supported claim without litigation, Claimant offers to settle for:

$[________________________________]

This offer:

• ☐ includes all claimed liens and reimbursement interests
• ☐ excludes the following identified interest: [________________________________]
• ☐ requires a mutually acceptable release
• ☐ requires confidentiality only if separately negotiated
• ☐ has these additional material terms: [________________________________]

The offer expires at [TIME] on [__/__/____]. This is a proposed contractual deadline, not a representation that any statute, rule, policy, or common law requires a response within that period.

Please respond in writing with:

1. acceptance, rejection, or a counterproposal;
2. the factual or legal basis for any disputed statutory element;
3. the comparative-fault facts, if asserted;
4. the coverage position and supporting policy terms; and
5. any additional records reasonably requested to evaluate the claim.

12. Enclosures

• ☐ Incident or animal-control report
• ☐ Photographs or recordings
• ☐ Witness statements
• ☐ Medical records
• ☐ Medical bills and payment ledger
• ☐ Wage-loss support
• ☐ Expert or provider prognosis
• ☐ Insurance correspondence
• ☐ Other: [________________________________]

Respectfully submitted,

[FIRM NAME]

By: [________________________________]
[ATTORNEY NAME]
New Jersey Attorney ID: [________________________________]
Attorney for [CLAIMANT]

Counsel Verification Checklist

Before sending, counsel should confirm:

• ☐ owner identity and proof;
• ☐ bite classification and causation;
• ☐ public place or lawful private presence;
• ☐ comparative-fault evidence and current controlling analysis;
• ☐ every separate theory against current official authority;
• ☐ accrual, tolling, notices, parties, and commencement deadline;
• ☐ treatment, prognosis, wage, and other loss support;
• ☐ lien and reimbursement interests;
• ☐ issued policy, endorsements, limits, and coverage position;
• ☐ preservation request scope and evidentiary basis;
• ☐ settlement amount, release terms, and offer expiration; and
• ☐ removal of every unused option, instruction, and unsupported assertion.