An injury liability will no longer be a trouble for the owner if his or her dog was being poked, taunted and aggravated or provoked in general by anyone making that dog bite that person. For many of the states, in these kinds of lawsuit, the owner of the dog is not liable to the victim. However, the lawsuits are not entirely terminated even if the rules are restricted by a dog bite statute of the state. Below is the discussion of some points on provocation defense and its limitations.

In Simpler words, What Can be Grouped under Provocation in a Dog Bite Case?

The most common types of provocations are obviously the poking and teasing or just by being mean to the dog, along with any unintentional steps towards the dog. For example, say, if a dog had bit the victim after the former had accidentally stepped on to it. Then the defense can be made available even if the victim was unintentional. In short, in order to behave aggressively, the dog must have gone through some kind of mishap.

The victim has to provide evidence that any provocations had not taken place

As part of the case, the plaintiff must prove that any sort of provocation had not occurred. These must be at least more than 50% confirmation that the victim had not provoked the dog while presenting in front of the jury or judge. A plaintiff cannot merely boast of the facts without presenting the facts and other evidence in the court. Defendants can lower the stand of the plaintiff by arguing that the evidence is not strong enough.

Past Behavior of the Dog does Matter  

After applying the provocation of defense, certain standards are implied. However, the law does not state how a ‘reasonable dog’ is supposed to behave. For example, say, the owner of a dog can be liable even if a slight provocation had caused the highly sensitive dog to behave aggressively. Moreover, the circumstances that had caused the injury are considered more. All the while, the defendants too are responsible to keep their dogs away from people if the animal is way more aggressive than it looks.

State Law Influencing the Lawsuits

There are certain limitations for statutes in many of the states and are different too.  Nevertheless, the laws are made in such a way that the plaintiffs are more likely to win the dog bite cases rather than the defendants. At times, the other way round is also possible when the provocation defense will not be eliminated by dog bite statutes.