New Jersey Statutes 4:19-23. Dog declared potentially dangerous; conditions
Terms Used In New Jersey Statutes 4:19-23
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- person: includes corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships and joint stock companies as well as individuals, unless restricted by the context to an individual as distinguished from a corporate entity or specifically restricted to one or some of the above enumerated synonyms and, when used to designate the owner of property which may be the subject of an offense, includes this State, the United States, any other State of the United States as defined infra and any foreign country or government lawfully owning or possessing property within this State. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
(1) caused bodily injury to a person during an unprovoked attack, and poses a serious threat of serious bodily injury or death to a person;
(2) caused serious bodily injury to another domestic animal or killed another domestic animal, and
(a) poses a serious threat of serious bodily injury or death to a person, or
(b) poses a serious threat of death to another domestic animal; or
(3) (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2019, c.82).
b. A dog shall not be declared potentially dangerous for:
(1) causing bodily injury to a person if the dog was provoked;
(2) causing serious bodily injury to, or killing, a domestic animal if the domestic animal was the aggressor;
(3) causing bodily injury to a person who was committing or attempting to commit a crime or offense upon the owner or person with custody or control of the dog or committing or attempting to commit a trespass or other criminal offense on the property of the owner or person with custody or control of the dog;
(4) causing bodily injury to a person or a domestic animal who was abusing, assaulting, or physically threatening the dog or the dog’s offspring; or
(5) causing bodily injury to a person who was intervening between two or more dogs engaged in aggressive behavior or fighting.
For the purposes of paragraph (1) of this subsection, the municipality shall bear the burden of proof to demonstrate that the dog was not provoked.
c. As used in this section, “bodily injury” means bodily injury as defined in subsection a. of N.J.S.2C:11-1; and “serious bodily injury” means serious bodily injury as defined in subsection b. of N.J.S. 2C:11-1
L.1989, c.307, s.7; amended 1994, c.187, s.4; 2002, c.24; 2019, c.82, s.2.