Does Umbrella Insurance Cover Dog Bites?

According to a 2017-2018 survey completed by the American Pet Products Association, about 68% of American families (85 million) own a pet, with dogs making up about 60.2 million of the total. Further, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year. More than half of these dog bite injuries actually happen at home, by dogs that are familiar to us. Children suffering dog bites are primarily in the age range of 5-9 years old.

Insurance Protection        

If you have homeowner's or renter's insurance, chances are good that you, your family and visitors to your home are covered by your policy for damages and legal liability costs related to a dog bite. Even outside of your home, if your dog gets loose or is in your car with the window down and bites someone, it should be covered by your homeowner's or renter's policy.

More dog bite statistics from the Insurance Information Institute (III):

• Insurance companies paid out liability claims in excess of $686 million dollars for dog bites in 2017
• The number of dog bite claims sought in 2017 totaled 18,522, up 2.2% (18,123) from the previous year
• The average dog bite claim paid out in 2017 was $37,051. This was a 90% increase from 2003, due to increasing medical costs and the size of jury awards, settlements and judgments, which continue to trend upwards

Umbrella Insurance Coverage

Most homeowner's insurance policies have liability coverage limits of between $100,000 to $300,000, which is enough to adequately cover the average cost of a dog bite claim. There are, however, unique situations that can occur whereby a dog bite victim can suffer injuries that far eclipse the costs of a typical dog bite claim.

A serious dog attack, for example, could be so debilitating that it could cause a permanent, lifetime disability for the victim. Such a scenario could quickly use up your homeowner's insurance liability coverage limit. This would mean all additional costs beyond your limit would fall to you, which could mean total financial ruin. Unless, that is, you have an umbrella insurance policy in place.

Umbrella insurance works along with your basic insurance, both home and auto, and starts paying on liability claims as soon as your regular liability limits are met. This applies to any liability claim you may be facing, including dog bite claims.

How Does an Umbrella Policy Work?

Umbrella insurance is a type of liability coverage often misunderstood by many but incredibly important to understand in our current, highly litigious society. Consider this startling fact. It's estimated that there are more than 15 million lawsuits filed in the U.S. every year. This works out to an average of approximately 41,000 lawsuits per day, or about one lawsuit every two seconds.

Why So Many Suits?

More than half of the lawsuits filed each year in America are as the result of a liability claim stemming from damages related to a vehicle accident. And while every driver here in North Carolina is required by law to be covered by a minimum amount of liability insurance, these limits are woefully below the amounts typically awarded as judgments in a liability lawsuit. If your automobile liability insurance merely covers the minimum required amounts, any vehicle accident for which you're held responsible will only pay out $30,000 per person in bodily injury damages, for a total of $60,000 for all persons injured in a single accident.

If you've taken the proactive step of increasing your automobile liability coverage to ten times the legally required amounts, $300,000 and $600,000, even these may be inadequate amounts if you cause a serious accident where multiple victims suffer significant injuries.

Other Liability Concerns

         

The same may be said of the liability coverage that's part of your homeowner's or renter's insurance policy. It, too, may be woefully inadequate if someone visiting your home trips on your front steps, falls and breaks their neck, or someone falls in and drowns in your backyard swimming pool. Liability judgments can be in the millions, and no ordinary auto or homeowner's insurance will ever cover this expense. That's where an umbrella policy comes in.

An Umbrella Policy Can Save Your Financial Future

An umbrella policy works in conjunction with your basic auto, homeowners or renters insurance, taking up the liability payments where your basic insurance leaves off. It's usually written for a minimum of one million dollars, but even this large amount of coverage is affordable – typically costing somewhere between $150-$200 per year. Each successive $1 million in coverage costs even less.

If you're held liable for an injury in your home, in your car, on your motorcycle, in your RV, watercraft, etc., an umbrella policy can keep you from bankruptcy. It's a small price to pay for huge potential benefits.