Angelina County—Precinct 1
Cause No.: CV-21883-A
Trial Date: April 10, 2019
Case Type: Personal Injury
Summary: This was an interesting case involving a dog attack. My client owned a dog that had a history of biting people, including, of all people, the mailman. The Plaintiff was a kind man who lived down the road. One day, my client’s dog escaped the backyard and joined up with a few other dogs (likely strays) and roamed the neighborhood. Mr. Thomas went out to get his newspaper that morning, and was surrounded by the pack of dogs, bitten by one of them. It really must have been a scary scene for him. However, there was little evidence of which dog did the biting. Subsequent to the bite, my client was cited by the city, and her dog was declared a “dangerous dog” under the applicable city ordinance. She had to pay some amount of restitution to Mr. Thomas and make some modifications to her backyard to protect the public against the dog. Mr. Thomas sued my client asking for additional money beyond the restitution amount (which was relatively low). Mr. Thomas complained of back issues, but he did have some back issues prior to his fall after he was bitten. He asked the jury for $10,000. I asked the jury to award $1,500. The jury awarded him $1,500.
