You were working. Dropping a package on a stoop off Rockaway Boulevard. Reading a meter behind an attached house. Helping a patient with morning care. Then a dog came at you. Now you have a wound, a boss asking for paperwork, and questions nobody at work can answer.
This page is for people bitten on the job in Ozone Park. It covers two things: what your employer’s coverage does, and what the dog owner may owe you on top of that.
Who gets bitten at work here
Ozone Park has blocks of attached homes with small yards. Gates open straight onto the sidewalk. Dogs sit behind doors a worker has to knock on. Commercial strips along Liberty Avenue under the A train, Cross Bay Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue add stores, yards and lots. Workers at risk include:
- Mail carriers walking the same route daily.
- Delivery drivers for packages, groceries and takeout.
- Home health aides working inside a client’s home, where the family dog lives too.
- Contractors and repair crews: plumbers, electricians, roofers, landscapers.
- Utility and meter readers who enter side yards.
- Dog walkers and pet sitters handling someone else’s animal.
Two separate claims. Know both.
Track one: workers’ compensation
A worker bitten on the job generally gets workers’ compensation through the employer. Report the bite to your supervisor right away. Put it in writing. Keep a copy.
Track two: a claim against the dog owner
You may also have a separate claim against the dog’s owner. Many workers never learn this. They file comp, get treated and stop there. That can leave money on the table. A claim against the owner can seek losses such as pain and suffering and disfigurement.
The two tracks run side by side. One does not cancel the other. A dog bite lawyer in Ozone Park can coordinate them so they do not trip over each other.
What it takes to win against the owner
New York law generally requires proof that the owner knew or should have known the dog had “vicious propensities.” That standard traces to the state’s highest court, which spelled it out in 2004 in Collier v. Zambito.
Workers often have an edge here. You may not be the first person at that door. Evidence can include:
- Earlier bites, or attempts on other carriers or drivers.
- Growling, snapping or lunging at people.
- Jumping on visitors.
- A “Beware of Dog” sign on the gate.
- A dog kept chained or muzzled.
- Complaints. Carriers sometimes flag a house as a dog hazard. Delivery apps may have notes. Co-workers remember.
If the dog was officially found “dangerous,” Agriculture & Markets Law § 123 makes the owner strictly liable for the medical costs of its attacks.
Two jobs, two different risks
Inside the home: aides and caregivers
Home health aides face a dog that lives where they work. The dog may growl every visit. The family may promise to lock it in a bedroom, then forget. Keep notes. Dates, what the dog did, what the family said. Text the agency when it happens. Those notes can show the owner knew exactly what the dog was like.
At the door: carriers and drivers
Carriers and drivers get seconds of warning, if that. A screen door gives way. A gate latch fails. A dog slips past a child opening the door. Snap a photo of the latch or door if you can do it safely. Note whether a sign was posted. Tell dispatch. Those details fade fast once the next hundred stops blur together.
More than one possible defendant
Bitten at a store, warehouse or lot? A business can be responsible for a dangerous dog on its property, including a guard dog. That overlaps with premises liability.
Bitten in a rented building? A landlord can be liable if it knew about the dog’s vicious propensities and had the power to remove it. Co-op boards and management can be involved if they knew about the dog too.
Bitten on city property or in public housing? A notice of claim usually has to be filed within 90 days. Do not wait on that one.
Who actually pays
Usually the owner’s homeowners or renters insurance. Not the owner personally. The adjuster may call you. You can decline a recorded statement until you talk to a lawyer. And no, your car’s no-fault coverage does not apply, even if you were out of your delivery van when it happened.
“You shouldn’t have opened the gate”
Expect that line. Owners and insurers like to blame the worker. The state follows pure comparative fault. If you share some of the blame, your recovery drops by that share. It is not wiped out. And walking a route you were assigned is a fact that carries weight when the blame game starts.
Your injuries and what they cost
Work bites often land on hands, forearms and legs. Those are the tools of your trade. Common injuries:
- Deep punctures and lacerations.
- Infection.
- Nerve or tendon damage that affects grip.
- Fractures from being knocked down steps or off a stoop.
- Scarring that may need plastic surgery.
- Rabies shots if the dog’s vaccination can’t be confirmed.
- Lasting fear of approaching houses with dogs, which can make the job itself hard.
A claim against the owner can include medical bills, future care and scar revision, lost wages, pain and suffering, and disfigurement.
What to do. In order.
- Get medical care.
- Report it to your employer in writing.
- Identify the dog owner. Ask about rabies vaccination.
- Notify the city health department no later than 24 hours after the bite.
- Photograph the wound as it heals, your torn uniform, and the gate, porch or yard.
- Get names and numbers of witnesses, including co-workers and neighbors.
- Keep every record: medical, pay stubs, comp paperwork.
- Call a lawyer.
Note the leash, too. The city’s responsible dog owner guide requires a leash of six feet or less in public. A dog loose on the sidewalk is a fact worth writing down.
The deadline
Generally three years to sue the owner, under CPLR § 214. The 90-day notice rule applies to city and public housing claims. Evidence goes stale well before either deadline.
Our side of it
Yakov Mushiyev & Associates handles the owner claim while you deal with work. Over $80 million recovered for injured New Yorkers so far. Free consultation. No fee unless we win. English, Russian and Spanish. We meet at home, in the hospital or by video, so you do not lose another shift getting to us.
Background reading: our dog bite practice page, New York dog bite laws explained, how the law applies in Queens, and our Queens accident lawyer overview.
Routes cross neighborhood lines. So do we. Bitten one stop over? Try our dog bite lawyer in South Ozone Park page, or the ones for a dog bite lawyer in Howard Beach, a dog bite lawyer in Richmond Hill and a dog bite lawyer in Woodhaven.
Bitten on the clock? Talk to an Ozone Park dog bite lawyer before your next shift. Call 718.775.3110 or use our contact page.
Directions
Office: 1 Cross Island Plaza, Suite 325, Rosedale, NY 11422. The map shows the drive from Ozone Park.
Attorney Advertising. General information for workers, not legal advice. Workers’ compensation and injury claims turn on specific facts.