My dog allegedly bit my neighbors dog through the privacy fence. Who is at fault? Who should pay for the vet bills?

Far too many factual issues in this dispute preclude anyone from giving a legal conclusion as a matter of law. Yes, you should turn this over to your homeowners insurance. This is why insurance exists, to allocate risk. My take on the factual dispute is that if you have taken reasonable steps to reduce the likelihood of the dogs fighting you have a good defense. Additional facts would include which dogs did which digging and if no one saw what happened then no one can say that the neighbor dogs were injured by the fence or the dog. The existence of additional facts only furthers the reality that there is no answer as a matter of law until all of the facts, not just these, are explored. It's why they build courthouses. Unless the insurance company can arrive at an agreement or adjustment. My office handles personal injury and accident litigation in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. There are procedural and legal differences between our states. However, the general negligence concepts discussed above are generally universal.

I don't see how a dog can do $2000.00 in injuries to another dog through a fence, but anything is possible. This is an unusual situation and there are several options. Your neighbor would need to prove to a court that your dogs injured the other dogs. The standard would be the "weight of the evidence" as opposed to the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard in criminal cases. The court, if it is convinced your dogs caused the injury, would then determine who is at fault. In this case you would probably be 50% at fault each because you both own dogs who engage in the same behavior. The court might determine the dogs were being dogs, you were both aware of the problem, and the unfortunate incident was no one's fault - its just a risk you take when owning dogs and there was nothing that could be done to prevent it or it was not foreseeable that it would happen. You could offer to pay half or you could file this with your insurance company who would assess the situation and determine liability. Before you do anything, ask for a copy of the vet bills and ask for permission to speak to the vet. Don't just take the neighbor's word that this was a dog bite. Dogs can get into a lot of unusual situations when they are left in a yard unattended.

I agree that there are too many facts in dispute to really advise you, other than to say that you should notify your homeowner's insurance carrier of the claim, but make sure that you tell them (in writing) that you dispute the claim and that you do not want the matter settled. For claims of this type it is generally less expensive for an insurer to make an offer in settlement rather than go to court. If you ultimately agree to a settlement, make sure the settlement is clear that the payment is made in full satisfaction of the claim so your neighbor cannot sue you. Also, get copies of the vet bills - it may be that the injury was from their dog getting its face caught on the fence, not from a bite and you will need copies of the vet records to show this. Last, but not least - you need to do something to make sure that neither set of dogs can dig under the fence.

I agree with the above attorneys to just turn this over to your homeowners insurance company to resolve. 1/3 of all homeowners claims are from dog bites, thus, unlikely you will be dropped.