Dog Bites
You can recover if the owner knew the dog was dangerous, or if they were simply careless with it — and the second route does not require the dog to have ever bitten anyone before. In most cases the money comes from the owner’s homeowner’s or renter’s insurance rather than out of their pocket. You have two years from the date of the bite.
Texas has no dog bite statute. These cases run on common law, and the governing case is Marshall v. Ranne. An owner is strictly liable where they knew, or should have known, that the animal was dangerous.
That knowledge is usually shown by a prior bite, prior aggression, complaints from neighbors, warnings the owner gave other people, or the way the animal was confined. A “Beware of Dog” sign is not the defense people assume it is; it can be evidence the owner knew.
The rule does not mean every dog gets one free bite. It means the case turns on what the owner knew, and there is a second route that does not involve knowledge at all.
The second route is ordinary negligence, and it is frequently the stronger one. An owner who let a dog roam, walked it off-lead where leashing was required, left a gate unlatched, or failed to secure a dog they knew was excitable can be liable whether or not it had ever bitten anyone.
San Antonio and Bexar County leash ordinances matter here. Violating a safety ordinance is evidence of unreasonable conduct, and in some circumstances supports negligence per se — which shifts the argument from whether the owner was careless to how much the injury is worth.
Children are bitten at head and face height, and they account for a large share of the serious injuries. Scarring in these cases is often permanent.
That changes how the claim is valued. Future reconstructive surgery is a real element of damages rather than a speculative one, and it needs a treating surgeon’s opinion rather than an estimate. Disfigurement and mental anguish are recoverable in their own right.
Where the injured person is a minor, two things follow: the limitations clock does not start until they turn eighteen, and any settlement generally needs court approval before it can be paid.
Most dog bite claims are paid by the owner’s homeowner’s or renter’s policy. People are often reluctant to bring a claim against a friend, a neighbor or a relative, and this is the fact that changes their mind: in the ordinary case the claim is against an insurer, and the owner pays nothing.
Some policies exclude particular breeds, and some exclude any animal with a bite history — which is one more reason the animal’s history gets investigated early.
Get medical treatment, and say it was a dog bite. Puncture wounds close over bacteria and infection is the common complication.
Report it to San Antonio Animal Care Services or the police. Texas requires a biting animal to be observed for rabies, and that report is the document that fixes the date, the animal and the owner.
Photograph the wounds as they develop, not only on the first day. Bruising and scarring change over weeks, and the later photographs are usually the ones that show what was actually lost.
Get the owner’s name, address and the dog’s vaccination records, and the names of anyone who saw it. Do not give the owner’s insurer a recorded statement before you have advice.
In effect, yes. Texas has no dog bite statute; liability comes from common law under Marshall v. Ranne. An owner is strictly liable when they knew or should have known the animal was dangerous. But a negligence claim needs no prior bite at all.
Often, yes — through negligence rather than the one-bite route. If the owner broke a leash ordinance, let the dog roam, or failed to secure a dog they knew was excitable, that is a claim regardless of the animal’s history.
Usually the owner’s homeowner’s or renter’s insurer. That is worth knowing before you decide not to pursue it because the owner is someone you know.
Possibly not. A minor’s two-year deadline does not begin until their eighteenth birthday, so a bite in childhood can still be actionable well into adulthood.
Texas uses proportionate responsibility. Your recovery is reduced by your share of fault, and barred entirely only if you are found more than 50% responsible.
Two years from the date of the bite for an adult. Claims against a city or other governmental unit carry much shorter formal notice deadlines, sometimes six months or less.
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