Report: 6,549 Postal Workers Were Attacked By Dogs In 2015

It is the classic tort and a virtual cultural icon: mailman versus dog. New figures show that this is not some cultural mythology. According to the U.S. Postal Service’s annual report, 6,549 postal workers were attacked by dogs in 2015. That is an increase of 14 percent from the year before so either dogs are getting more aggressive or mail carriers are getting slower.

The highest rate of dog bites appear to be Houston which 77 attacks last year. Some 800 more mail carriers were attacked last year than the year before.

However, the staggering number is found in all dog bites. There are roughly 4.5 million or so people bitten by dogs each year.

Under the common law, dogs unlike wild animals are not subject to strict liability. As a domesticated animal, dogs are subject to a negligence standard. This led to the evolution of a “one-free-bite” rule where after a bite, the dog was presumed to be vicious and the owner was potentially subject to strict liability for future attacks. The rule is a bit of a misnomer. You do not get a free bite if the dog showed vicious propensities in other ways.

Source: Washington Post