Fox Anchor Sues Whole Foods After Pit Bull Attack Leaves Permanent Injuries

Fox Business anchor Jackie DeAngelis has filed a lawsuit against Whole Foods over a dog attack inside a Manhattan store that she says left her permanently scarred and unable to fully use her left hand.

DeAngelis alleges the grocery chain failed to enforce its animal restrictions and permitted a dog that was not a legitimate service animal to remain inside the store.

The 46-year-old television host reportedly underwent surgery after the September 2023 attack and says she continues to experience physical limitations nearly three years later.

Her lawsuit seeks unspecified compensation for medical expenses, emotional distress and other damages allegedly connected to the incident.

Dog Allegedly Attacked Inside Manhattan Store

According to the complaint, DeAngelis was shopping at the Whole Foods located at 10 Columbus Circle when a black pit bull bit her left hand.

The lawsuit, filed Aug. 20 in Manhattan Supreme Court, describes her injuries as “permanent and continuing.”

DeAngelis reportedly required hand surgery and suffered substantial scarring and reduced mobility. She also claims that the injuries prevent her from completing certain tasks she could perform before the attack.

The dog and its owner allegedly left the store before law enforcement officers arrived, according to accounts previously provided to the New York Post.

DeAngelis co-hosts Fox Business Network’s “The Big Money Show.”

Lawsuit Questions Enforcement of Store Policy

Whole Foods maintains a “No Pets” policy but permits legitimate service animals in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Federal law defines a service dog as one individually trained to perform specific work or tasks related to a person’s disability. Animals whose sole function is providing comfort or emotional support do not meet the ADA’s definition of a service animal.

Businesses are generally required to admit properly trained service animals even when ordinary pets are prohibited. However, a service dog may be removed if it is out of control and its handler fails to take effective corrective action.

DeAngelis alleges the animal that bit her was not a legitimate service dog and contends that Whole Foods failed to reasonably enforce its restrictions against unauthorized animals.

Her complaint further accuses the company of failing to exercise reasonable care when regulating and controlling animals permitted on its property.

Whole Foods had not issued a public response to the allegations when the lawsuit was initially reported.

Questions Surrounding Serious Dog Attacks

The case comes amid an ongoing national debate over dangerous dog attacks, enforcement of public-space restrictions and whether certain breeds are associated with disproportionately severe injuries.

Some trauma-center research has linked bites attributed to pit bull-type dogs with more serious outcomes and a greater likelihood of surgical treatment than attacks involving other identified breeds.

A 2026 study examining 276 dog-bite patients found that incidents identified as involving pit bulls were significantly more likely to require surgery. The researchers cautioned, however, that breed identification by owners or patients can introduce bias into the results.

A broader review of peer-reviewed American studies similarly found that pit bull-type dogs and German shepherds were repeatedly identified among breeds involved in some of the most severe bite injuries.

Breed-related statistics remain disputed because visual identification is often unreliable, mixed-breed dogs complicate classification and researchers lack a universally accepted estimate of the total pit bull-type dog population in the United States.

DogsBite.org, an advocacy group focused on severe attacks, reported that pit bulls were involved in roughly 66 percent of the fatalities it documented from 2005 through 2019. That percentage relies on the organization’s own breed-identification methodology rather than official federal breed-specific fatality data, Trending Politics reported.

Those broader arguments will not determine the lawsuit on their own. DeAngelis’ case will instead focus on what happened inside the Columbus Circle store, whether the animal should have been admitted and whether Whole Foods had a legal duty to prevent the alleged attack.