The city's permitting process that makes it legal for restaurants to allow dogs in outdoor dining patios is now live. | Hanna Raskin
Published on January 29, 2026 at 4:32 pm
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Q: Although many restaurants in Jacksonville had already welcomed patrons and their dogs on outdoor patios, City Council this month made it codified and legal.
Ordinance 2025-0866-E takes advantage of the leeway given in Florida statute for local governments to establish a permitting process that allows patrons’ dogs in a food establishment’s designated outdoor spaces, which would otherwise be prohibited.
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When Jacksonville Today reported the council’s move and then asked your take, some people loved the idea of being able to bring their family pet to a patio. Others saw it as a health hazard or were scared of what dogs would do. But something mentioned over and over was liability for the dog’s behavior on the patio.
Jacksonville Today reader Roy W. wants to know:
Who holds the liability if a dog hurts someone on a restaurant patio?
Is it the restaurant? The dog owners? Both?
A: The permit created by the city’s Planning and Development Department requires dog owners to keep their dogs on a leash at all times while on the restaurant’s patio and keep the canine “under reasonable control.”
The permit also addresses pet waste, handwashing for restaurant employees who touch or pet the dogs and other sanitation rules, and keeping the animals off tables, chairs and other furnishings.
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The dogs are not allowed to be inside dining rooms or food preparation areas, and restaurants are required to post signs to the patios’ entryways.
But the permit does not mention liability for the dog.
A city spokesperson tells Jacksonville Today that, according to attorneys in the Office of General Counsel, liability for the animal “would be a civil matter between the parties involved.”
Asked why liability was not spelled out in the permit, the city official says, “We simply followed the state’s statutory guidance on creating this ordinance.”
So Jacksonville Today reached out to a local attorney to get more clarity. Leslie Scott Jean-Bart is a partner at Terrel Hogan Law who specializes in general liability including premise liability. She has also represented clients in dog bite cases.
Jean-Bart says liability in the case of a dog bite or accident involving the animal depends on the situation, but it would begin with the dog owner.
“First, Florida has strict liability for dog bites. So, even if it’s your dog’s first bite, if you’re the dog owner, you’re responsible,” she says.
The restaurant owner also could hold some liability if they had prior knowledge that a dog is or has been aggressive in the past.
“In order for the restaurant to be liable, they would have to have some type of negligence. So it wouldn’t be strict liability for them just for having a dog there,” Jean-Bart says. “But let’s say they know this dog is aggressive, and they keep letting the dog come, then there could be some negligence on them for that.”
Other patrons also have a responsibility with their behavior around the dogs and not to antagonize the animal, Jean-Bart says.
“Let’s say you rush up on a dog and you startle the dog. You put your hand down where, maybe the dog has a bowl and you put your hand down by the bowl. Most people would know you’re not supposed to do that,” she says. “That would be comparative fault.”
As of 2023, Florida statute says that if a person is more than 50% at fault for that kind of situation, then they would not get compensation, Jean-Bart says.
Dogs, insurance and patios
If a restaurant-goer’s dog does attack or bite someone, Jean-Bart says any coverage for the incident would typically fall under a homeowner’s insurance policy.
But many policies in Florida don’t cover dogs, she says. So it’s important for people who want to take dogs to the restaurant to check their policies first.
For restaurant owners, she says insurance is not required by law but it would be safer to carry it to avoid the hit of financial liability that could come from a dog-related incident.
And it’s not just dog bites. Jean-Bart says a dog could chase a patron or lunge and cause them to fall, which could result in an injury.
The signs required by the city’s permit would not take away any liability from the restaurant, according to Jean-Bart.
“It just means for the people who are not comfortable dining around dogs, now they know and at least they would know so that they would have the opportunity to make that decision,” she says.
In some states, like Georgia, insurance requirements are part of outdoor patio dining permits, Jean-Bart says.
The attorney suggests that city officials could have left liability language out in an attempt to not add anything beyond what is covered in the state statute.
Although dogs on patios have not been officially authorized in the past, Jean-Bart says many restaurants have been doing it, which has given them experience in how to mitigate any danger related to dogs.
“I do think that quite a few restaurants have been doing this anyway, so many of them probably have a pretty good idea about how it’s been working, even before the permitting process came into effect, Jean-Bart says.
“I think the type of restaurants that have already been doing this, I think they’re more aware and more prepared for situations like that to hopefully avoid people being bitten.”
