At The Arndt Law Firm, our team knows that a dog attack can turn a peaceful day in Georgetown, or on the beaches of Pawleys Island, into a stressful, sometimes traumatic experience. We live and work in this community, so we understand the unique mix of local dog laws and the way incidents can happen at family homes, rental properties, or along public spaces like Front Street or the county’s waterfront parks.
When you reach out to us, you’ll be met by a team that listens, investigates, and advocates for you. We work together to make sense of local ordinances, gather evidence, and explain your options clearly. Whether your case involves a leash law violation on the beach, an off-leash encounter in a rental community, or a bite at a local park, we know how to approach the facts and the law to protect your interests.
Our team’s approach is rooted in personal attention and open communication. We know that every bite or attack has its own story, and we make sure you never feel like just another case. We’re here to answer your questions, walk you through the process, and fight for the compensation you deserve.
If you or a loved one has been injured by a dog in Georgetown, Pawleys Island, or anywhere in Georgetown County, let our team help. Visit our contact page to start a conversation about your case and find out how we can support you.
Most injury claims require proof that someone failed to act reasonably. A dog bite claim in South Carolina does not. Under Section 47-3-110(A), if a person is bitten or otherwise attacked by a dog while that person is in a public place or is lawfully in a private place, the dog owner or the person having the dog in their care or keeping is liable for the damages suffered.
Three parts of that sentence carry weight. The statute covers being bitten "or otherwise attacked," so an injury does not have to involve a bite. Whether a particular knockdown, jump, or chase is an "attack" depends on what the dog did, and it is worth having the facts reviewed rather than assuming the claim is excluded. The location requirement is broad: a public place is enough, and so is being lawfully in a private place, which the statute says expressly includes the property of the owner or keeper.
The third is the second defendant. The statute also reaches a person having the dog in their care or keeping. Depending on the facts, that can include a dog sitter, a rental host minding a guest's animal, a boarding facility, or a household member who took the dog in, and each may carry insurance the owner does not.
Do I have to prove the owner was negligent?
Section 47-3-110 holds the owner responsible if their dog causes injury to someone in a public place or in a private location where the person is lawfully present. Importantly, the law doesn't require proof that the owner knew their dog was dangerous. This approach emphasizes the owner's responsibility to ensure safety, regardless of their knowledge about the dog's behavior.
South Carolina Code of Laws, 47 S.C. Code Ann. § 3-110 (2024) protects a person in a public place or lawfully in a private place. A person is lawfully on private property, including the dog owner's property, when performing a duty imposed by state law, a local ordinance, or federal law (such as postal regulations), or when there on the express or implied invitation of the owner, a lawful tenant, or a resident. Someone who does not meet that test, such as a trespasser, falls outside the statute. Beyond that element, the statute lists only two exceptions.
The first is provocation. The statute does not say that any provocation defeats the claim. It says the section does not apply if the person who was attacked provoked or harassed the dog and that provocation was the proximate cause of the attack. The proximate cause requirement is the defense, and omitting it misstates the law in the owner's favor.
The second is the law enforcement dog exception, and every one of its conditions must be met: the attack followed the lawful command of a duly certified canine officer; the dog was trained and certified to South Carolina Law Enforcement Training Council standards; the agency had a written policy on police dog use; the handler and dog did not violate that policy; the conduct was not excessive force; and the person attacked was not a third-party bystander.
Neither defense turns on the dog's history. South Carolina does not give an owner a free first bite, and evidence of prior aggression is not something a claimant has to produce.
Section 47-3-20 authorizes local animal care and control ordinances, and in this county the rules change between jurisdictions and between seasons.
The Georgetown County Sheriff's Office Animal Control and Enforcement Unit enforces animal control laws in the unincorporated areas of the county. Incorporated towns set and enforce their own.
The Town of Pawleys Island ordinance defines a dog as running at large if it is off the premises of the owner or keeper and not under the immediate control of the owner or keeper. It defines a dog as under physical restraint if it is on the owner's premises, or accompanied by the owner or keeper and under physical control by means of a leash not exceeding twenty feet in length or a similar restraint.
U.S. Route 17, the coastal highway through Georgetown County, links the beach communities and public beach access points where the county and town leash rules apply. Beach rules add a seasonal layer. On Georgetown County beaches, dogs must be leashed from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and outside those hours a dog must be under voice control with the owner able to demonstrate that control to a law enforcement officer if asked.
Within the Town of Pawleys Island, dogs off their owner's property must be leashed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., May 1 through September 30. At all other times, they may be off leash only if under the owner's voice control.
A leash figure from one jurisdiction does not transfer to another. Neighboring counties use different maximum lengths, and a rule quoted from the wrong place is worse than no rule at all.
Was the dog allowed off leash on the beach?
It depends on where and when. Georgetown County beaches require a leash from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with voice control demonstrable outside those hours. Within the Town of Pawleys Island, dogs must be leashed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., May 1 through September 30, and at all other times may be off leash only if under the owner's voice control.
The statutory claim under Section 47-3-110 does not require a leash violation. Liability attaches on lawful presence regardless of how the dog was restrained.
The local rule still matters in three ways. A violation is evidence about the standard of care and can support a theory alongside the statutory claim.
The local rule still matters in three ways. A leash ordinance violation can support a negligence per se theory alongside the statutory claim, and relevant ordinances include Georgetown County Code Sec. 4-24 and Town of Pawleys Island Code Sec. 4-2.
Punitive damages require proof by clear and convincing evidence (South Carolina Code of Laws, 15 S.C. Code Ann. § 32-520 (2024)) and are generally capped at the greater of three times compensatory damages or $500,000 (South Carolina Code of Laws, 15 S.C. Code Ann. § 32-530 (2024)), with exceptions that lift the cap in certain cases, including intentional harm. And it determines which body investigated, which determines where the records live, in a county where the Sheriff's Office covers unincorporated areas and towns cover their own.
Voice control provisions add a factual question that a leash rule does not. Where a dog was off leash lawfully under a voice control provision, whether the owner actually had that control at the moment of the attack is a question of fact, and the ordinance itself contemplates an owner being asked to demonstrate it.
A county drawing visitors to beaches and rentals produces attack circumstances that a residential market does not.
An attack at a short-term rental reaches the host under the statute where the host owned or kept the animal, and a guest lawfully present is squarely within the statutory language. Where a host permitted a guest's animal, or was minding another person's, the reach to keepers matters.
Beach and public access attacks turn on which jurisdiction the location falls in, since the leash and voice control rules differ between the county and the incorporated towns, and the responding agency differs with them. In areas like Garden City Beach and Murrells Inlet, which cross the Georgetown–Horry County line, the local leash law and enforcement depend on which county you’re in. You can check your location using the Georgetown County or Horry County GIS map to confirm the correct jurisdiction.
Attacks in community common areas raise the question of who controlled that space, since an association that knew of a dangerous animal and had the ability to act may face a premises theory alongside the statutory claim.
An attack at a boarding kennel, a groomer, a daycare, or a veterinary practice brings a commercial policy into play, and the business is frequently a keeper within the statute rather than a bystander.
If the person bitten was working for the kennel, groomer, daycare, or veterinary practice at the time, workers' compensation is generally the only remedy against that employer (South Carolina Code of Laws, 42 S.C. Code Ann. § 1-540 (2024)). A separate claim against the dog's owner may still be available, and the workers' compensation carrier may have a lien on that recovery (South Carolina Code of Laws, 42 S.C. Code Ann. § 1-560 (2024)).
A visitor bitten while on holiday and treated before driving home is the person most likely to miss the reporting duty that follows.
South Carolina treats an animal bite as a public health matter on a short clock, and the duty can land on the injured person.
Under Section 47-5-90, a physician who attends a bite must report it to the county health department by the end of the next working day. Where no physician attends, the responsibility falls on the bitten adult, or the parent or guardian of a bitten child, to report by the end of the next working day.
The South Carolina Department of Public Health administers this. Animal bites are an urgently reportable condition, with providers reporting by telephone within 24 hours.
The consequence of that report is what matters to a claim. The county health department serves notice on the owner of a dog that has attacked or bitten a person, requiring quarantine at the owner's expense for at least ten days. That produces a dated official record identifying the animal and the person responsible for it, created by a public body rather than by an interested party.
Where an attack happened on a beach or in a public area, and the owner walked away, that record may be the only route to identifying the animal at all.
The statute already reaches keepers, which covers a great deal. Other situations need a different theory alongside it.
A landlord is not automatically responsible for a tenant's dog. Where the landlord knew of a dangerous animal on the property and could remove it or refuse it, a premises theory may reach. That claim turns on knowledge and control rather than on the dog bite statute. The framework sits in the premises liability analysis.
Property managers, associations, rental hosts, and businesses that permitted an animal on their premises can be reached on the same reasoning.
Where the dog belonged to a government agency, the South Carolina Tort Claims Act governs. Suit must be filed within two years after the loss was or should have been discovered, or within three years if a verified claim was filed with the agency first.
That claim must be received within one year after the loss was or should have been discovered (South Carolina Code of Laws, 15 S.C. Code Ann. §§ 78-80(d), 78-110 (2024)). Recovery is capped at $300,000 per person and $600,000 per occurrence, and punitive damages are not available (South Carolina Code of Laws, 15 S.C. Code Ann. § 78-120 (2024)).
Most dog bite recoveries come from a homeowner's or renter's policy rather than from an individual, and the policy language decides how far it goes.
Three issues recur. Some policies exclude specific breeds outright. Some impose a separate, lower sublimit for animal liability rather than applying the full personal liability limit. Some exclude an animal with a prior recorded incident.
Where the owner is a tenant, the renter's policy and the landlord's policy are separate potential sources responding to different theories. Where a dog was in someone else's care, that person's own policy may apply. The keeper is directly liable under the statute, so the keeper's own liability coverage may respond. Where a property is operated as a rental, a landlord or commercial policy may respond instead of a residential one, and whether it does is read from the documents.
| Potential source | When it responds | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Owner's homeowner's policy | Owner owns and insures the residence | Breed exclusions, animal sublimits, prior incident exclusions |
| Owner's renter's policy | Owner rents | Whether animal liability is included at all |
| Keeper's own policy | Dog was in another person's care | The statute names keepers, so this is a direct claim |
| Rental host or management policy | Attack at a short-term rental | Whether commercial rental use is covered |
| Association policy | Attack in a common area | Knowledge, control, and any premises theory |
South Carolina Code of Laws, 47 S.C. Code Ann. § 3-110 (2024) contains no comparative-fault reduction. Its only fault-based defense is provocation, and it works as a complete bar rather than a percentage cut. This section does not apply if the injured person provoked or harassed the dog and that provocation was the proximate cause of the attack. Whether a court would also apply South Carolina's general comparative negligence rule to a claim under this statute is not answered by the statute's text.
There is a further point specific to this claim type, and it runs the opposite way from every other injury page. For causes of action arising or accruing after January 1, 2026, most defendants in South Carolina injury cases can ask the jury to assign fault to a person who was never sued. Section 15-38-15(H)(4) bars that tactic where the causes of action involve strict liability, which should keep that mechanism out of a claim brought under South Carolina Code of Laws, 47 S.C. Code Ann. § 3-110 (2024). How courts will treat a case that also includes negligence or premises claims has not yet been decided.
Because South Carolina Code of Laws, 47 S.C. Code Ann. § 3-110 (2024) imposes liability without fault, a strict liability dog bite claim should be shielded from this tactic. However, if negligence or premises liability claims are included in the lawsuit, how courts will apply Section 15-38-15(H)(4) remains an open question. The general injury analysis covers how the mechanism operates everywhere it does apply.
Can the dog owner blame someone who was not sued?
Not in a strict liability claim. Section 15-38-15(H)(4) keeps a nondefendant off the verdict form where the cause of action involves strict liability, which is what Section 47-3-110 creates.
Dog attacks produce a distinctive injury pattern: puncture wounds carrying a high infection risk, crush injuries from the jaw rather than the teeth, nerve damage, and scarring in visible places. Facial injuries are disproportionately common in attacks on children because of height.
In a county whose injured population skews older, two further patterns matter. An older person knocked down by a dog may sustain a hip or wrist fracture that outweighs any bite wound, and the statute covers that injury because it reaches a person who was otherwise attacked. And thinner skin and slower healing make infection and scarring worse outcomes than they would be for a younger victim.
Scarring damages are assessed on the permanent result rather than the initial wound, which is one reason a claim involving a child is often not ready to value quickly.
The general deadline is three years (South Carolina Code of Laws, 15 S.C. Code Ann. § 3-530(5) (2024)), measured from when the injured person knew or should have known of the claim (South Carolina Code of Laws, 15 S.C. Code Ann. § 3-535 (2024)), which in most dog attacks is the day of the attack.
For an injured child, South Carolina Code of Laws, 15 S.C. Code Ann. § 3-40 (2024) pauses the limitations period during minority. Still, the period cannot be extended more than one year after the disability ends. How those rules combine for a particular child should be confirmed early, because the answer can differ from a simple formula and may affect related claims a parent might have.
A dog bite suit filed in Georgetown County goes to the Georgetown County Court of Common Pleas, part of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, at the Georgetown County Judicial Center, 401 Cleland Street, Georgetown. New civil cases are filed with the Clerk of Court on the first floor, Room 115.
Most dog bite claims resolve with a homeowner's carrier without suit. Filing changes that when a carrier disputes ownership, asserts an exclusion, or takes a position on provocation the evidence does not support, and it is also what produces the animal control file where one exists.
Serious attacks are treated at Tidelands Georgetown Memorial Hospital in Georgetown (no trauma designation), Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital in Murrells Inlet (an adult Level IV trauma center), or Grand Strand Medical Center in Myrtle Beach, the region's Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center. In a scarring case, the photographic record from the initial treatment carries weight throughout.
The statute reaches a person who is bitten "or otherwise attacked," and that second phrase covers a category of claim people assume falls outside it.
A dog that charges and knocks someone down, jumps up, or chases a cyclist or runner can cause injury even without biting. The statute covers a person who is "bitten or otherwise attacked," so whether a particular incident counts as an attack depends on the facts and should be evaluated specifically under South Carolina Code of Laws, 47 S.C. Code Ann. § 3-110 (2024).
The same framework applies to all of them. The injured person must have been in a public place or lawfully in a private place as defined by statute. Liability attaches to the owner or the person having the dog in their care or keeping, and the only statutory defenses are provocation and the law enforcement dog exception.
In a county whose injured population skews older, these injuries are frequently worse than a bite. A knockdown on a beach or a sidewalk produces hip and wrist fractures, and a hip fracture in an older adult carries a documented risk of lasting loss of independence.
They are also often recorded as falls rather than as animal incidents, which affects how the record is created and whether the reporting duty is triggered at all.
Does the statute cover a dog that knocked me over?
The statute covers a person who is "bitten or otherwise attacked," so an injury does not have to involve a bite. Whether a particular knockdown, jump, or chase counts as an attack depends on the facts of what the dog did and should be reviewed case by case.
No, South Carolina law holds dog owners and keepers responsible for bites or attacks, even if the dog has never shown aggression before. You don’t need to prove a history of danger or previous incidents to bring a claim.
Local leash and control rules vary by place and time. On Georgetown County beaches, dogs must be leashed from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with voice control required at other hours. Within the Town of Pawleys Island, dogs must be leashed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., May 1 through September 30, and at all other times may be off leash only if under the owner's voice control.
The statute covers a person who is "bitten or otherwise attacked." Whether being knocked down, jumped on, or chased with no contact is covered depends on how the incident happened and should be considered based on the specific facts.
Responsibility can extend beyond the owner. If someone else was caring for or keeping the dog at the time, they may also be liable, and their own insurance could provide coverage.
We don’t charge anything up front. Consultations are free, and our team only collects a fee if we recover compensation for you.
At The Arndt Law Firm, our team knows that dog bites and animal attacks can leave lasting physical and emotional scars. We see firsthand how these incidents affect not just the person injured, but their families and sense of safety in the community. Whether the attack happened at a home near Pawleys Island, on the beach, or in a neighborhood park, our experience with Georgetown County’s unique mix of local rules helps us guide clients through the aftermath with care and clarity.
We approach every case as a team, sharing insights, double-checking details, and supporting one another so that you always have the benefit of our collective experience. From sorting through health department records to working with insurance companies, we keep the process as straightforward as possible for you.
We believe that honest communication and personal attention matter just as much as legal skill. Our commitment is to keep you informed, answer your questions, and make sure you never feel lost in the process. We’re here to help restore your peace of mind.
If your case needs to be filed in court, a Georgetown County dog bite suit goes to the Georgetown County Court of Common Pleas at the Judicial Center, 401 Cleland Street, first floor, Room 115. You can reach the firm through our contact page to discuss your options. Where a child was injured, the deadlines and process can be complicated, so having early documentation and legal guidance is important.
Last reviewed: August 2026
This page was reviewed by Jonathan S. Arndt, licensed in South Carolina since 2018.
Content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a licensed South Carolina attorney for guidance specific to your situation.
