Personal Injury · Dog Bite Liability
Dog Bite Laws in Nebraska
Whether Nebraska holds a dog owner automatically liable, follows the one-bite rule, or takes a mixed approach, plus landlord liability and the main defenses.
How liability works in Nebraska
What the rule is, and what you must show.
Landlords & defenses
Who else can be liable, and what defeats a claim.
The trespasser carve-out is narrow: it removes the statutory strict-liability claim for a trespasser but does not necessarily cut off an ordinary common-law claim. Intentionally provoking the dog bars recovery under the statute.
The full picture, with the source
Every field, and any recent development.
| Liability model | Strict liability |
| Basis | Statute — Neb. Rev. Stat. §54-601 |
| What it covers | You suffered damage from the dog and you were not a trespasser. The statute reaches beyond bites to include the dog killing, wounding, injuring, worrying, or chasing a person or another person’s animals, so a knock-down or a chase can be covered. |
| Landlord | Generally no. Section 54-601 makes the "owner or owners" liable. A landlord is reached only through common-law negligence, when they knew a tenant’s dog was dangerous and had the ability to remove it. |
| Main defenses | Trespassing · Provocation · Comparative fault |
What Nebraska dog-bite victims get wrong
Nebraska is a broad strict-liability state, and its statute is wider than most. Section 54-601 first declares dogs to be personal property, then makes the owner liable for "any and all damages" the dog causes, without asking whether the owner ever knew the animal was dangerous. Unlike the bite-only statutes in states such as California, Nebraska’s law expressly reaches a dog that kills, wounds, injures, worries, or chases a person or someone else’s animals, so it is not limited to a puncture bite. The main line the statute draws is who you are: a trespasser cannot use the strict-liability path, and someone who intentionally provokes the dog is barred from recovering. Short of those, a victim generally does not have to prove the owner did anything wrong.
Common questions
Is Nebraska a strict-liability state for dog bites?
Yes. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. §54-601 the owner is liable for damage the dog causes without the victim having to prove the owner knew the dog was dangerous.
Does Nebraska’s dog law only cover actual bites?
No. Section 54-601 is broader than a bite-only statute. It covers a dog that kills, wounds, injures, worries, or chases a person or another person’s animals, so a knock-down or chase injury can fall within it.
Can a trespasser recover for a dog bite in Nebraska?
Not under the strict-liability statute, which excludes trespassers. A trespasser may still have an ordinary common-law claim, but the automatic liability of §54-601 does not apply to them.
Is a landlord liable for a tenant’s dog bite in Nebraska?
Generally only through common-law negligence, not §54-601, which targets the dog’s owner. The landlord would need to have known the dog was dangerous and had the ability to remove it.
Not legal advicePlainStatute provides plain-language summaries of public law for general information only. This is not legal advice. Statutes change; always confirm current requirements with the official source linked above before acting.