Delfino

Appellant Joanne Delfino suffered serious injuries when she fell from her bicycle, after being chased and knocked down by a dog which was running loose on the public streets in Contra Costa County. She brought this lawsuit against the owners of the dog she testified had caused the accident. We will hold, inter alia, that a local ordinance, penalizing an owner whose dog is allowed to roam public streets unleashed, is an animal control law enacted to protect public health and safety and imposes strict criminal liability, regardless of the absence or presence of mens rea in the dog owner; and that violation of such a regulatory law, which requires a given level of conduct and imposes liability on those who, regardless of intent, do not comply, is negligence per se.

The trial court initially indicated it would instruct the jury on principles of negligence per se, as derived from the violation of a county ordinance forbidding dog owners to “allow” their dogs to wander loose on the public streets. Counsel accordingly discussed this theory in voir dire and opening argument. The trial court ultimately declined to instruct the jury on principles of negligence per se, after…