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Dog bite and animal attack claims

Texas has no strict-liability dog-bite statute. That makes what the owner knew before the attack the centre of the case — and it is provable far more often than owners expect.

Liability rests on the owner’s knowledge of dangerous tendencies or on ordinary negligence: a dog that had lunged, snapped or bitten before, a leash law ignored, a gate that had been broken for weeks, a landlord told repeatedly about the animal. Prior complaints to animal control, vet records, apartment-management files and neighbours’ accounts are what turn "he has never done that" into a documented history.

Recovery usually comes from homeowner’s or renter’s liability coverage rather than the owner personally, which matters when the injury involves facial scarring or a child. We build these claims around the full course of reconstructive treatment and the psychological effects, and we do not settle a child’s scarring case before the surgeons can say what the final result will be.

What we look for

  • Prior bites, lunges or animal-control complaints establishing the owner’s knowledge
  • Leash-law and local ordinance violations
  • Landlord or apartment-complex liability where management knew about the animal
  • Facial and extremity scarring, nerve damage and the full reconstructive course
  • Post-traumatic effects, particularly in children

The record

recovered for clients since 2011
$212M+
cases taken to verdict
60+
trying cases in Harris County
19 years

How a case moves

  1. Investigation

    We move fast on the evidence: black-box data, driver logs, plant records, scene documentation and witnesses — preserved before it disappears.

  2. Demand

    A documented demand built on medical evidence and proven losses. Insurers respond to files that are ready for a courtroom, not letters that hope for one.

  3. Litigation

    Suit, discovery and depositions in Texas state or federal court. Every deadline is ours to hit; every deposition builds the trial record.

  4. Trial

    If the offer never matches the harm, we pick a jury. You decide whether to settle — at every stage, with the numbers in front of you.

Questions

The owner is a friend. Does suing mean suing them personally?

Usually the claim is paid by their homeowner’s or renter’s liability coverage, which exists for exactly this. That is why most of these cases resolve without the personal rupture people fear.

The dog had never bitten anyone before.

Knowledge of dangerous tendencies is one route to liability; plain negligence is another. An unsecured gate, a violated leash ordinance or a dog left with someone who could not control it can each be enough without any bite history.

The insurer started building its file the day it happened

Texas deadlines can end a claim before you know it exists. The call costs nothing.

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