Torts II

There are four different rules in use for trespassing animals:

1. Some courts impose no strict liability for trespassing animals and just use a negligence standard.
2. Common Law Trespassing Animals Rule

   The owner of animals likely to roam and do damage is strictly liable for their trespasses.

   An owner is strictly liable for the damage done by the trespass of animals as long as it was reasonably foreseeable.

   Livestock straying from a highway on which they are lawfully being driven are exempt.

   Dogs and cats are not included.

3. Fencing Out Statute

   A fencing out statute states that there is strict liability for the owner of an animal that breaks through another's properly fenced-out land.

4. Fencing In Statute

   A fencing in statute holds an owner of animals strictly liable if an animal is not properly restrained.

   If the animal is fenced in properly and escapes anyway, there are three different responses:

   1. No strict liability, instead just using negligence
   2. Strict liability
   3. Common Law Trespassing Animals Rule

      The owner of animals likely to roam and do damage is strictly liable for their trespasses.

      An owner is strictly liable for the damage done by the trespass of animals as long as it was reasonably foreseeable.

      Livestock straying from a highway on which they are lawfully being driven are exempt.

      Dogs and cats are not included.

The majority rule imposes strict liability upon the possessor of wild animals that injure someone.

• An increasing number of states forgo this in favor of a negligence standard for zoos.

There are three rules for liability concerning domestic animals:

1. One-Bite Rule

   Some states allow domestic animals "one free bite" for which the owner of the animal cannot be held liable for at all, but they then hold owners strictly liable for any future bites by the animal.

2. A majority of states impose strict liability if an owner knows or has reason to know that a domestic animal has vicious propensities abnormal to its class.
   • Generally, breed does not matter.
   • If the owner does not know or have reason to know, a negligence standard is used.
3. Some states set a rule by statute, often doing away with the requirement that a plaintiff prove scienter.
   • (Scienter is the "knows or has reason to know" part.)