Dog bites are one-third of all homeowners insurance liability claims, institute says

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So much for man’s best friend – dog bites represented a third of all homeowners insurance liability claims last year, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
Attacks cost insurers $387.2 million in 2008, up 8.7% from $356.2 million in 2007. Since 2003, the average dog-bite claim has jumped nearly 28% from $19,162 to $24,461, due in part to higher medical costs and pricier court decisions.

In the last year, the number of claims rose nearly 9% from 14,531 to 15,823. More than half of bites happen on the dog owner’s property.
More than 4.5 million Americans are bitten by dogs each year, with nearly 900,000 requiring medical care, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About half of those are children.

In 2006, more than 31,000 victims required reconstructive surgery.
-- Tiffany Hsu