Dog Bites Account For One Third Of Homeowner Insurance Claims

Posted by Milton Recht:

From TIME, Business and Money, "Dog Bites Insurance Companies: Man’s Best Friend Behind One-Third of All Homeowner Claims" by Brad Tuttle:

Over the last decade, the number of insurance claims related to dog bites has basically remained flat. But the amount of money paid out in claims has soared, and last year dog bites accounted for more than one-third of all dollars paid out in homeowners insurance liability claims.

Data from the Insurance Information Institute (III) released in honor of something called National Dog Bite Prevention Week indicates that over the past decade, the number of dog bite claims has drifted from the low 14,000s to the high 16,000s. In 2012, the total stood at 16,459, down from the 2011 tally of 16,695, and also lower than the 2003′s total of 16,919. The low over the past decade occurred in 2005, when 14,295 dog bite claims were recorded.***The average dog bite claim payout rose from $19,162 in 2003 to $29,752 last year, an increase of 55%.