Protecting Your Mail Carrier – Dog Bit Prevention on Your Property

In this podcast, John Maher speaks with Rob Mazow and Kevin McCullough of Mazow McCullough about preventing dog bites involving mail carriers and delivery workers. They discuss common causes of dog bites, homeowners’ legal responsibilities, and steps delivery personnel can take to protect themselves. The conversation highlights the importance of proper signage, secure containment, and awareness to prevent incidents and ensure safety. Listen for practical advice on how to protect your property and those who visit it.

John Maher: Hi, I’m John Maher. I’m here today with Robert Mazow and Kevin McCullough of the Law Office of Mazow McCullough. Today we’re talking about protecting your mail carrier, dog bite prevention on your property. Welcome, Rob and Kevin.

Robert Mazow: Thanks, John.

Kevin McCullough: Thank you, John.

What are Common Causes of Dog Bites Involving Mail Carriers?

John: So, Rob, what are some of the most common causes of dog bites involving mail carriers or just other people who might come onto your property like delivery drivers?

Robert: Well, we see it a lot. We get a lot of calls from the Amazon delivery people. We get a lot of calls from mail carriers. And there are challenges in these cases. First of all, anybody who gets bit by a dog is, subject to some exceptions and they’re injured, is entitled to make a claim against the dog owner or the dog keeper. Whatever, if they’re mail carrier, if they’re just there to visit, they’re just walking on the street, it doesn’t matter what their profession is. But mail carriers, we’ll start with them, they work for the federal government.

So, if they are injured on the job, they are going to first get their medical bills and their wage is paid for through the Federal Employees’ Compensation Program. So they’re going to be covered under any circumstances by let’s call it workers’ compensation, but it’s not quite workers’ compensation, but it’s the federal version now. But that doesn’t end the inquiry.

There has to be questioning of the dog owner to determine whether or not they have insurance, homeowners’ insurance or apartment insurance or renter’s insurance, which would cover them for the injuries that their dog caused. So, if there is an injury and if there is homeowners’ insurance, then the postal carrier who’s injured can not only get recovery for their medical bills and their wages through the postal carrier but can also get paid for their pain and suffering and certain wages and certain bills through the homeowners insurance.

There’s going to be some reimbursement that’s going to be required that they make to their workers’ compensation carrier for the bills and lost wages that were paid, but it doesn’t exclude their ability to get access through the homeowners. Now, the Amazon delivery people, the, what do they call them, the last mile people, the people who are doing these deliveries that are not postal workers, they may be classified as independent contractors, so they are not going to necessarily have the luxury, not the luxury, but the benefit of workers’ compensation.

In those instances, if they’re injured by a dog, there has to be deep inquiry and investigation into determining whether or not there’s homeowner’s coverage. Because if there’s not, the injured party may be left without compensation for their bills, for their pain and suffering, and for their potential salary disfigurement.

Do Homeowners Have A Legal Responsibility to Prevent a Dog Bite?

John: Do the homeowners themselves have any legal responsibilities to do anything that might prevent dog bites from happening on their property?

Kevin: Absolutely, John. In the context of the typical postal worker, they have the luxury of oftentimes doing the same route. So they may know a certain neighborhood. They may know a certain home. They may know which houses have dogs. But from the homeowner’s point of view, if you have a dog, regardless of what type of dog it is, you should have signage up telling the postal worker or the Amazon worker or the UPS worker or anyone coming to your property that you own a dog.

That is a way to protect the homeowner because you’re putting that person on notice who’s coming onto your property. If the dog is loose within the yard, even with the signage, there should be a leash to prevent that dog from getting to the walkway or the stairway to bite or attack that person coming onto that property. And what we see a lot more frequently now is it’s not like the situation where you’d go to the gate, you’d beware of dog sign, you’d lift the gate, there’s no dog, you walk in.

With these electronic fences now, if you have someone who’s not a daily postal worker, but an Amazon driver, UPS driver, or someone outside of the neighborhood, if they approach a property where there’s no fence, there’s no signage, and you start to go towards that front door and lo and behold, from around the back of the house, their dog runs out and bites you and attacks you, those are things that we’re seeing more frequently now with these electronic fences.

And the idea is to give the dogs more freedom and room to roam around, but we’re not seeing the same warnings that were present before with the fence and the sign “beware of dog.” These people who are not familiar with the property have no idea that there is a dog there or that it could attack them as they’re approaching the front door. So as a homeowner, absolutely there are steps to take to protect yourself, to put those coming to your property on notice that you own a dog, to take the steps to prevent the dog from reaching that walkway or that porch area.

If you take those steps and those measures, those are things that you can use to help protect yourself if something happens. That if someone leaves that walkway to go to the back door or to the backyard when they really shouldn’t be, then you may have some defense or some protection to that.

But it’s this idea that it’s this comfort level of no more fences or fewer fences, not knowing there’s a dog present, and there’s no signage. Those are the situations where the dog owner and the property owner should be even more mindful if there’s no fence up to put extra signage warning people that there’s a dog there.

But to Rob’s point, with these delivery drivers, we’re just seeing more and more of those types of cases where there is no fence, there is no signage, and someone’s not familiar with the area, that particular property, and they’re just doing their job and they get attacked by a dog and sometimes viciously because the property owner just thinks, “My dog is safe. It’s not going to leave my yard,” not considering the fact that there could be delivery personnel coming to the property who are being attacked by this dog.

So, dog owners need to do what they can to protect their dog, protect their property, and put others on notice. And absolutely, if you’re a delivery driver, you should be even more cautious going to these properties that you’re not familiar with where there is no fence, to think that this could be a situation where there may be a dog present. It may be an electronic fence situation.

How Does Trespassing Apply to Dog Bite Cases with Delivery Workers?

John: Is there any concept of trespassing or is that a defense that a homeowner could make that, “Hey, this is private property and they came onto my property. They shouldn’t have done that. They were trespassing,” what’s the situation with that sort of thing?

Robert: So, trespassing is a defense to a strict liability dog bite case. However, you’re not going to succeed with it for the postman and you’re not going to succeed with it if you’ve ordered something from Amazon.

John: Because you’ve basically invited them to come to your property by saying, “You’re going to deliver this to my house.”

Robert: Of course. You’ve given up that expectation of privacy. I mean, I can see a scenario where an Amazon driver mistakenly delivers to the wrong home and the dog bites. And somebody might argue trespass, but there has to be some intent to trespass. I don’t think that that would be a successful defense. Hey, I’m a sovereign citizen. I don’t get the mail. Well, too bad. The mailman is coming onto your property to deliver the mail. And if your dog bites them, then you’re going to be responsible.

How Can Mail Carriers Protect Themselves from Dog Bites?

John: What steps can mail carriers and other workers take to protect themselves from dog bites while making deliveries? Kevin just talked about just being more mindful. That maybe in the case where there’s not a fence, there still might be a dog present with an electronic fence. Are there any other ways that delivery people can help to protect themselves?

Robert: Sorry, Kevin. I can just say from experience, we have a dog and the postal carrier would just come with dog biscuit every day. He developed a relationship with the dog. So that’s one way to do it. I’ve seen them carry mace. I’m certain that there’s training in the postal service for how to handle this. First, don’t approach strange dogs. Don’t approach a dog you don’t know. Don’t stick your hand out.

If there’s any concern about a dog in the property, don’t go on the property. The person will get their mail another way. The post office will reach out to that homeowner and say, “You have to contain your dog because we’re not going to be able to deliver until you get that dog under control.” So those are the kind of things that postal workers can do to defend themselves and to prepare.

What Legal Options Are Available After a Delivery Person is Bitten by a Dog?

John: If a delivery person is bitten by a dog on someone’s property, what are the legal options that are available to them?

Kevin: John, the delivery person whose bit has the same legal rights and remedies as an everyday person who’s bit on the street or in the park. There wouldn’t necessarily be anything different about that claim, other than the initial analysis of what were you doing on the property and if you were actually making a delivery, that is an invitation to come onto the property. It’s more than just the mail carrier or the Amazon driver.

We see it now with Grubhub and food deliveries where there are just many different scenarios and situations where people who are strangers to a property who don’t live there are called upon to make a delivery there for various reasons. But those individuals would have the same rights and recourse if they are bit on that property to pursue a claim, to consult with an attorney, to get the medical treatment that they need, to document their injury, and then to potentially recover for any medical bills, reimbursement, lost wages, and compensation for scarring and for pain and suffering.

I do want to mention one point to the question that you asked a minute ago, which was, what can the postal carriers do or the delivery personnel do to protect themselves? And Rob mentioned something that we do often see with postal workers, and that is carrying mace. But it’s an interesting thing and something that immediately came to mind for me because I see it frequently, not just with mail carriers, but with delivery personnel, my advice to them as a lawyer and as a homeowner would be to pay attention to your surroundings.

And that sounds pretty simple, but nine out of 10 delivery people that I see coming to my neighborhood are wearing earbuds. And they’re either talking on the phone, they’re listening to music, and it’s extremely difficult to hear if there’s a dog barking, if there’s a dog approaching. If I were making a delivery to neighborhoods that I don’t live in, that I’m not familiar with, I would do my best to be aware of my surroundings and to look and listen and to be observant. I’m not delivering, so I’m sure it helps to pass the time.

I’m sure it helps to multitask with making phone calls, returning phone calls, or simply just passing the day listening to music, but that is something that I would absolutely recommend to postal workers, delivery personnel would be when you’re actually making that delivery and you’re on that stranger’s property that you’re not familiar with, I would take those earbuds out and leave them in the van for that delivery.

Resources for Dog Owners to Keep them Safe Around Mail Carriers

John: Right. It’s kind of like distracted driving. You call it distracted delivery or something like that if you’re on your phone and just not paying attention. Are there any resources then that are available to help dog owners to train their pets or make sure that their pets are safe around mail carriers and other delivery workers?

You brought up a good point earlier, which was just to introduce your dog to the mail carrier. If it’s the same mail carrier every day and that dog is going to see that same person every day, have the mail carrier give the dog a treat so that the dog sees that mail carrier as being a friend or something like that. Are there any other advice that you might give to dog owners?

Robert: Yeah, I mean, general training advice. You don’t always know what kind of dog you’re going to get. You don’t always know what the kind of personality is going to be. Clearly, there’s behavior issues that dogs have. If you have a dog that is hyper reactive to a mail carrier or the doorbell, I mean, there are professionals that will come in and the professional behaviorists that will come in to help train. You can take your dog to get training at any local pet place.

There’s a million trainers out there. Obviously, you want to make sure that they’re qualified and certified. Mail tends to be delivered around the same time every day in most neighborhoods. So if you’re home, you become aware that the dog should be restrained. Like Kevin said, either in the home safely or on a leash safely, something that will protect the mail care or any visitor to your home.

So, you can have a conversation with the mail carrier, and you can tell them, “Look, just leave the mail on the outside of the gate. Don’t worry if it gets destroyed.” There are things you can do. You have to take responsibility before your dog may do. So those are some of the things that I would suggest.

John: All right, that’s all great advice. Rob and Kevin, thanks again for speaking with me today.

Robert: Thanks, John.

Kevin: Thank you, John.