Dog Bite Negligence and Dangerous Dog Injuries
Dallas Dog Bite Attorney
Dog Bite Injury | Texas Dog Attack | Dog Bite Wrongful Death | Dog Negligence | Dangerous Dog Attack | Dog Bite damages | Dog Bite Death Law Firm | Dog Bite Personal Injury
As a Texas medical doctor and Personal Injury attorney, I am providing this information and commentary. This website is maintained by the Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm, a Southlake, Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas law firm representing people across Texas for dog bite injury cases. We have attempted to provide useful information for those harmed by animal attacks.
Dog Bite Negligence and Dangerous Dog Attack
Texas law holds a person responsible fort the personal injuries sustained by the negligence of the dog owners for a dog bite or dog attack. As a medical doctor, I have treated many victims of dog bites and folks who have been injured as a result of a dog attack. There is no excuse for a dog bite injury if a person or young child is attacked by a dangerous breed of dogs, or one known to be vicious. We aggressively pursue financial compensation for dog bite and dog attack victims who have suffered from animal attacks involving dangerous dogs or known vicious dog breeds such as Rottweilers, German shepherds, and Pit bulls etc. Click here for top 10 vicious dog breeds.
All dogs can be potentially dangerous, but some dogs are more dangerous and vicious than others. Many dogs can be considerably stronger and larger than a person of average size. Training, socialization and proper care can make an impact, but some dogs are specifically bred by years of human selection to be more aggressive. In other words, man's best friend has been bred to become man's worst enemy, reversing 25,000 years of wolf-dog evolution. Dog bites and attacks can be mentally traumatic, physically life-changing experiences, and they account for 386,000 emergency-room visits each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
We hold accountable and aggressively prosecute dog owners, business owners, dog spas, property owners and people who have a duty to protect adults and children from vicious dogs in neighborhoods and especially in public parks. Often, folks are hesitate to make personal injury claims after suffering dog bites or dog attacks because they do not want to sue a neighbor or family member who owned the dangerous dog. Remember that homeowners' insurance or business insurance may be available to compensate the injured victim.
Contact the law offices of Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm to schedule a free initial consultation after a dog bite injury or dog attack. Medical attention is important to prevent infections. Surgery may be required to prevent or reduce the effects of lifelong scarring. Psychological therapy is helpful in many cases, especially in young kids, since this type of attack can be very mentally traumatic, above and beyond the physical injuries and should be paid for by those who are responsible for the dog bite incident.
Negligent Handling of Dogs
An injured person must prove the following to prove that a person was negligent in the handling of a dog: (1) the person owned or possessed the dog; (2) the person owed a duty of reasonable care to prevent the dog from injuring someone; (3) the person breached his duty; and (4) the person's breach of the duty proximately caused a person's injury.
This claim differs from a claim alleging strict liability, because an injured person does not need to prove that a dog was vicious or dangerous when suing for negligent handling.
Dangerous Domesticated Dogs - Strict Liability
A person injured by a dog can also bring a claim in a lawsuit if the dog is a dangerous domesticated animal. A person must prove the following for this claim: (1) the person owned or possessed the dog; (2) the dog had dangerous propensities abnormal to its class; (3) the person knew or had reason to know that the dog had dangerous propensities; and (4) the dangerous propensities were the producing cause of injury.
Texas Dangerous Dog Act
The Texas Dangerous Dog Act is a law that applies to anyone who owns, possesses, or controls a dangerous dog. The Act is in Chapter 822 of the Texas Health and Safety Code. The Act defines a "dangerous dog" as one that either (1) makes an unprovoked attack on a person that causes bodily injury or (2) commits unprovoked attacks that cause a person to reasonably believe that the dog will attack and cause bodily injury. The law imposes certain obligations on an owner, including obtaining insurance or delivering an animal to animal control after a determination that a dog is dangerous. The Act also provides criminal penalties for dangerous dog owners.
Leash Laws
Some Texas cities, towns, and counties have leash laws, which are ordinances which regulate restraint of animals.
Negligence Per Se
If a dog owner breaks the Texas Dangerous Dog Act or a local ordinance, then the owner might be liable to someone harmed as a result for negligence per se.
Negligence per se requires that an injured person prove that (1) the injured person belongs to the class of people the statute or ordinance was designed to protect, and the injury is the type the law was designed to prevent; (2) the statute or ordinance is one for which tort liability may be imposed when violated; (3) the owner violated the law without excuse; and (4) the owner's act or omission proximately caused the injury.
If you have additional questions or concerns regarding Texas laws on Dog Bites or Dog Attacks, contact Dr Shezad Malik in Fort Worth at 817-900-8439 or toll free 888-210-9693 or click here and fill out our contact form for a free consultation.
Read more about Dog Bites and Dog Attacks here
Information and commentary provided by Dallas Fort Worth Personal Injury Attorney Dr Shezad Malik. The Dr Shezad Malik Law Firm can be contacted in Dallas toll free at 888-210-9693 or in Fort Worth at 817-900-8439. If you or a loved one has been injured from a Dog Bite or Dog Attack, please fill out our contact card for a free consultation.
Our law firm’s principal office is in Southlake and we have offices in Fort Worth and in Dallas, Texas, and we represent people across Texas, for Personal Injury and Wrongful Death, in cities and areas including the following: Abilene, Albany, Alice, Alpine, Amarillo, Angleton, Arlington, Austin, Bay City, Baytown, Beaumont, Benavides, Big Spring, Boerne, Bonham, Bowie, Brazoria, Brownsville, Brownwood, Bryan, Buffalo, Carthage, Centerville, Childress, Clarksville, Cleburne, College Station, Commerce, Conroe, Corpus Christi, Corsicana, Crockett, Daingerfield, Dalhart, Dallas, Decatur, Del Rio, Denton, DFW Metroplex, Dumas, Eagle Pass, Eastland, Edinburg, El Paso, Emory, Ennis, Fairfield, Falfurrias, Fort Stockton, Fort Worth, Freer, Gainesville, Galveston, Garland, Gatesville, Gilmer, Granbury, Grapevine, Greenville, Groom, Harlingen, Henderson, Hillsboro, Houston, Huntsville, Irving, Jacksboro, Jasper, Kaufman, Kerrville, Killeen, Kingsville, Kingwood, Laredo, Liberty, Livingston, Llano, Longview, Lorena, Lubbock, Lufkin, Mansfield, Marathon, Marshall, McAllen, Mesquite, Midland, Mineola, Mineral Wells, Mount Pleasant, Mount Vernon, Nacogdoches, New Braunfels, Odessa, Orange, Ozona, Palestine, Pampa, Paris, Pasadena, Pearland, Pecos, Pharr, Plainview, Port Arthur, Quinlan, Raymondville, Richland, Rio Grande City, Rio Grande Valley, Sanford, Sonora, San Angelo, San Antonio, San Marcos, Seguin, Shamrock, Sheffield, Sherman, Spring, Stephenville, Sulphur Springs, Sweetwater, Tawakoni, Temple, Terrell, Texarkana, Texas City, Thurber, Tulia, Tyler, Van Horn, Vernon, Victoria, Waco, Waxahachie, Weatherford, Wharton, Whitesboro, Whitewright, Wichita Falls, Wills Point, The Woodlands, and Woodville, Texas.