Bitten on private property — invited, delivering, or trespassing

The legal question is often not “whose dog” first. It is “why were you standing there.” Strict-liability statutes typically cover public places and people lawfully on private property. They typically exclude trespassers. Insurers hear “private property” and reach for the exclusion. The facts are more specific than that.

You were asked in

A guest, a friend, a child’s playdate, a contractor who was hired — this is the core of most statutes. California’s § 3342 language (“lawfully in or on the private property”) is the pattern.

You were working

Mail carriers, delivery drivers, utility workers, and home-health aides are why some states (Indiana’s statute is the extreme version) wrote the law around people who have to come to the door. Even where the statute is broader, a worker is almost never a trespasser.

You were not supposed to be there

Climbing a fence at night is the easy case against you. A shortcut across a yard, a ball retrieved without asking, a door you opened — these are the fights. Be honest in the intake. A lawyer would rather have the truth than a story that dies in deposition.