Mississippi Dog Bite Law

For some reason or another I’ve noticed lately that I seem to be having a lot of search engine traffic coming from people who are trying to find information about pit bulls or dog bites. I’m not exactly sure why we’ve had such a rush of people looking for information, but because of it I’m going to post more information about dog bite cases here in Memphis and the midsouth area.

Because I represent dog bite victims from all over the states of Tennessee and Mississippi I include information for both states on this site.

In the past I have taken an in depth look at Tennessee dog bite law and those posts can be found HERE. This post looks for into the specifics of Mississippi dog bite law.

Dog bite laws in Mississippi lean more to the side of the dog owner than they do to the injured person who was actually bitten by the dog.

That the person bitten by the dog must prove that the negligence of the owner caused the injury.

To prove this negligence, the person who was bitten by the dog must show some proof that the dog “exhibited some dangerous propensity prior to the attack and that the owner knew, or reasonably should have known, of the dog’s dangerous propensity”.

In non lawyer talk – the victim must offer some kind of proof that the dog’s owner should have reasonably foreseen that the animal was likely to attack and bite someone.

This doesn’t mean that you have to show that the dog was likely to bite you. It just means that you must give some kind of proof that shows the dog was vicious and was likely to bite someone in general.

The two most important cases on Mississippi dog bite law are Poy v. Grayson and Mongeon v. A& V Enterprises, Inc. You can click on either case to read the court’s decisions.

If you’ve been bitten by a dog here in Memphis, or anywhere in Mississippi or Tennessee, and have questions give me a call!