Incidents involving known dangerous dogs are handled differently on a legal level than standard dog bite injury claims. In New Jersey, a dangerous dog is one that has received this classification from an animal control office due to a previous unprovoked attack against a person or animal.
If the courts previously decided that the animal was dangerous, the dog owner had a responsibility to obtain a special ownership license, place warning signs on his or her property, and keep the dog in an enclosure or on a leash with a muzzle. If you were attacked by a known dangerous dog because the owner neglected to fulfill these duties, you may have grounds for a negligence claim.