Dog Bites

Dog attacks have the potential to cause debilitating injuries and lifelong emotional and physical scars. Fortunately, victims of dog bites have rights when it comes to holding an accountable party responsible and recovering financially. The animal’s owner is the first avenue of recovery to pay compensation for your past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, and other damages. Texas is a “one bite state”, meaning that either the dog owner or the premises owner must have known the dog had previously bitten another person before. This means that in order to have a case in Texas, you must prove two things. First, you must prove that this particular dog has bitten someone in the past, and secondly, you must prove that the dog owner has knowledge of it.

If you cannot prove those two things to bring your case, you could bring an ordinary negligence cause of action against the dog owner. In Texas, you can bring an action for the owner’s negligent handling or keeping of the animal if it caused the injury. Unlike the liability claim, the case would need to establish different elements. The case must show that the owner had a duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent the animal from injuring others, that the owner breached that duty, and that breach was the proximate cause of the injuries. In Texas, the duty of ordinary care stems from if the injury was foreseeable. Therefore, it is critical to hire an experienced Texas personal injury attorney to explore what your best options are. A lawyer will work to find the evidence to establish that the dog owner had actual or constructive knowledge of the danger to establish foreseeability for you.

Do I need to hire an attorney?

Hiring a personal injury attorney is critical in order to receive the highest possible recovery that is available to you without any undue delay. Many people injured as the result of the negligence of a third party might be reluctant to hire a lawyer. This is because people do not want to have to spend money unnecessarily if they feel that a personal injury claim might be something that they could handle themselves. In Texas, the standard method of payment for a personal injury attorney is through what is called a contingency fee. This means that a personal injury lawyer won’t ever send you a bill, invoice, or receipt. The lawyer would get paid by taking a percentage of whatever the recovery is. That is the case if the recovery is through a settlement or through a jury trial. If, for whatever reason, there is no recovery, then you would not have to pay the lawyer anything. The statute of limitation to recover for an injury or death resulting from negligence is only two years. You only have two years to pursue a recovery from a negligent party. Insurance will delay investigating the claim, taking reasonable efforts to respond to you timely, and give you an appropriate response to your claim until this limitation expires. Hiring an experienced Texas personal injury attorney will ensure that the insurance companies take you and your claim seriously. If the insurance companies are not willing to cooperate, then a lawyer can file a lawsuit to make certain that they do so.