Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

At common law, a landowner owed no duty of care to a trespasser. California deviated from this in the sixties, and established a general duty of care, regardless of the identity or classification of the third party injured on the property. The current standard is that a landowner owes a general duty of reasonable care to everyone whether the person is a licensee, an invitee or a trespasser. The exception is that landowners do not owe a duty of care to individuals who enter the property in order to commit a felony. Then, in order to meet this exception, the individual must be charged and convicted of a felony.

California also has a strict liability dog bite statute. (Civ. Code, sect. 3342.) http://law.onecle.com/california/civil/3342.html

Arguably, this more specific statute supercedes the common law development of the general duty set forth in the paragraph above. That liability only attaches, however, if the person injured was lawfully on private property.

In your situation, it does not appear that you should be held liable, unless there is something that you are not telling us.