Texas Dog Bites & Animal Attacks

If you were bitten by someone else's dog in Texas, you may be entitled to compensation from the dog owner or his or her insurance company, to reimburse you for costs related to your dog bite injury.

Texas primarily uses what is known as one-bite laws when it comes to dog bites.

Texas One-Bite Laws

The one-bite law says that dog owners are not responsible the first time a dog bites someone, but if the dog bites anyone after that, the owner is held responsible for any damages. Once the dog's owner knows that the dog has the potential to bite, the owner has the responsibility to ensure that the dog never bites anyone in the future.

One-bite laws do not care how much time passes between the first bite and the second bite. Nor does it matter if the dog bites the same person or a different person the second time.

The exception to the one-bite law is if the dog owner had reason to believe the dog might bite. In this case, the owner would be liable the first time his or her dog bites someone.

If You Are a Victim

If you are the victim of a dog bite, you may be able to recover money from the dog's owner (or his or her insurance company) to compensate you for:

• Medical bills, including medication and future treatment for scar reduction
• Mental health counseling
• Lost wages
• Torn clothing
• Pain and suffering

Texas law gives you two years from the date of the dog bite to file a bodily injury claim against the dog's owner. (This is known as the statute of limitations.) If you and your Texas dog bite lawyer are unable to negotiate a settlement with the dog's owner (or the their insurance company), you should consider filing a lawsuit before the statute of limitations runs out.

If your injury claim is for less than $10,000, you would file your personal injury lawsuit in the Texas justice court or the Texas constitutional county court that has jurisdiction. For injury claims worth more than $10,000, you would file your lawsuit in the appropriate Texas county courts at law.

Additional Texas Dog Bite Resources

Information about the Texas courts

Texas's Lillian Stiles Law, which increases the length of jail time for dog owners who fail to reasonably secure their dogs and it results in serious injury or death

Texas law regarding unlawful restraint of a dog