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My Neighbor’s Dog Bit Me – Does My Neighbor Need to Pay for My Medical Care?

Recently, a young man asked me about a dog attack. He told me he had been in his own yard; going to his mailbox to get the mail, when his neighbor’s dog came into his yard attacked and bit him. The bites were so extensive he required medical treatment. He wanted to know if his neighbor, the dog owner, was responsible for his medical bills.

The answer is it would depend upon the specific facts.

In Texas, generally speaking, a dog owner is responsible for the attacks or bites of his dog if he knew the dog was vicious, or if he should have known the dog was vicious or at a propensity or tendency to bite or attack people. So, go back to our young man. If the dog had bitten other people, had attacked other people, had run into other people’s yards being aggressive, then the dog owner could be responsible for the attack and his medical bills. If on the other hand this dog had never attacked anybody before, never left it’s yard, never bitten or snapped or shown any aggressive tendency then suddenly and un-expectantly ran into his yard and bit him then the dog owner might not be legally responsible for the attack or the medical bills.

But, there are also other factors. Did this attack take place in the city? Where there are city codes or ordinances that regulated dogs or required them to be on leashes or behind a fence. If the attack was a result of a violation of a city code or ordinance, then again, the dog owner could be responsible for the attack and the medical bills.

In any personal injury situation, the laws affecting your rights can be complex and difficult to understand. If you or someone you know or love has been seriously injured by a dog attack, an on the job injury, a car crash, a motorcycle accident or any other type of injury call the personal injury lawyers of Roberts & Roberts.

We can help. We can answer your questions. The call will cost you nothing, it can mean everything.