Houston Dog Bite Lawyer

Dog bites can be surprisingly serious events that have the potential to impact every part of your life. At a minimum, people who suffer these injuries should seek out care in an emergency room. More severe attacks can leave you with injuries that require follow-up care, force you to miss time at work, and inflict severe emotional trauma.

In many situations, it is possible to hold a dog’s owner responsible for these losses. A Houston dog bite lawyer wants to help you to pursue your case. Our well-practiced personal injury attorneys are available to investigate the incident, evaluate your losses, and demand that all liable parties provide adequate compensation.

Dog Bite Cases that Center Around Strict Liability

The concept called strict liability can be a powerful tool for injured individuals. A defendant who is strictly liable is responsible for all a person’s losses that arise out of their conduct, even if they did not take any affirmative actions or failed to act to prevent harm.

Dog bite cases are a clear example of this dynamic. Texas law establishes a version of a one-bite rule that holds owners strictly liable if the animal had a “dangerous propensity.” In short, a dangerous propensity is a past incident of violent behavior.

Even so, it falls to an injured person to prove that a dog’s owner had knowledge of this dangerous propensity. The case of Marshall v. Ranne, 511 SW 2d 255 (Tex. S.C. 1974) states that injured people who can demonstrate this concept deserve full compensation for their losses. A Houston dog bite attorney could help people better understand the concept of strict liability and apply it to their case, if it applies.

First Incidents of a Dog Bite

In some cases, it may be impossible to prove that an owner has prior knowledge of their dog’s dangerous propensity. This appears to leave them immune from any liability that arises out of a bite.

A dog bite lawyer in Montrose may still be able to provide help in these situations. Even if a dog owner had no reason to suspect that their animal was dangerous, they still had a duty to keep that animal under control. As a result, it is possible to prevail in a dog bite case that centers around the concept of negligence.

When is a Dog Owner Negligent?

A party is negligent when they allow an accident to occur through carelessness. A dog owner implicitly accepts a duty to keep their animal under control and to prevent harm from affecting others. Dog owners may be negligent in many ways, including:

• Failing to keep the animal on a leash when in public
• Poor maintenance on fencing that separates private property from sidewalks
• Allowing the animal to enter a victim’s private property

Proving negligence often requires an extensive investigation into the events that led up to an injury. At the same time, injured individuals have a limited time to pursue their cases. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003 gives plaintiffs as short a time as two years from the date of an attack to demand compensation, so it is important to contact a Houston pet liability lawyer quickly.

Reach Out to a Houston Dog Bite Attorney Now

If you have suffered an injury after a dog bite, you deserve the compensation that you need to set things right. Dog bites can require extensive medical care, impact your emotional health, and could leave permanent scars. A dog owner that allows these incidents to occur is liable to provide you with fair compensation. But collecting these payments can be difficult.

Let a Houston dog bite lawyer examine your case, explain your rights under the law, and hold at-fault dog owners responsible for their failures to keep you safe.