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Lakeway Dog Bite Lawyer
Fighting for Lakeway injury victims
Injured by a Dog Bite in Lakeway, Texas?
A dog attack on a Lake Travis trail, in a neighborhood, or at a park can cause serious wounds, infection, and lasting scars, especially to children. A Lakeway dog bite lawyer at Goldberg & Loren builds the paper trail that proves liability and pursues the owner’s coverage. Free consultation; no fee unless we win.
Our Lakeway Dog Bite Lawyer
Legally reviewed by Matthew Kotzen
A former insurance-defense trial attorney, Matthew Kotzen spent the early part of his career representing insurance companies before switching sides to fight for injured people. He earned his J.D. from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University, is a Lifetime Member of Best Attorneys of America, and is admitted to the State Bar of Texas.
“I spent years building cases for insurance companies. Now I use that same playbook to make sure they pay what they actually owe.”
Goldberg & Loren Fights for Maximum Compensation
Pay Nothing, Unless We Win
Texas Injury Law at a Glance
| Deadline to file a lawsuit | Two years from the date of the injury (wrongful death: two years from the date of death). Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003 |
| Fault Rule | Modified comparative responsibility ("51% bar"): you recover only if you are 50% or less at fault, and your award drops by your share. §§ 33.001, 33.012 |
| Dog owner liability | Strict liability if the owner knew the dog was dangerous; otherwise negligence, including a leash-law violation. Marshall v. Ranne, 511 S.W.2d 255 (Tex. 1974) |
How Texas Dog-Bite Liability Works
Texas has no dog-bite strict-liability statute. Liability comes from common law under Marshall v. Ranne, 511 S.W.2d 255 (Tex. 1974). Under that case an owner is strictly liable only once they knew, or had reason to know, the dog had a dangerous propensity, a prior bite or aggressive history.
Absent that knowledge, the owner can still be liable for negligent handling, including violating a local leash ordinance, which can establish negligence per se. Strict liability is one path to winning, not the only one, so a bite history is helpful but not required.
The difference decides what you have to prove. On strict liability you show the owner knew the dog was dangerous and the dog injured you. On negligence you show the owner failed to use reasonable care, an unlatched gate, an off-leash dog, an ignored posted rule, and that failure caused the attack. We usually plead both, so the owner’s insurer has to price the chance that either theory persuades a jury.
A leash-law violation is often the cleanest way to prove negligence. When a local ordinance requires a dog to be restrained and the owner lets it run loose, that violation can establish negligence per se, meaning the broken rule itself supplies the owner’s breach of duty. From there the chain is short: the loose dog caused the attack, and the attack caused your injuries.
This is why the small facts at the scene, a gate that did not latch, a dog that had lunged at a neighbor before, a warning the owner shrugged off, so often decide the outcome. A prior bite is not required. It makes strict liability easier to prove, but a first-time attack still supports a negligence claim when the owner failed to control the animal.
Criminal Liability Under "Lillian's Law"
A serious attack can carry criminal consequences on top of a civil claim. Under Texas Health & Safety Code § 822.005, known as “Lillian’s Law,” an owner whose dog causes serious bodily injury or death can face felony charges when the owner was criminally negligent in failing to secure the animal. That criminal case is handled by prosecutors, separately from your injury claim, but a related finding can reinforce the civil case that the owner knew the risk.
The two tracks run in parallel and do not depend on each other. A prosecutor might decline to charge the owner and you could still win full compensation, because the civil standard, more likely than not, is lower than the criminal one.
What matters for your claim is the record: an animal-control report, a citation, or a criminal finding all become evidence that the owner knew the dog was dangerous and failed to act. We gather those documents early, before they are archived or lost, so the owner cannot later argue the attack came out of nowhere.
Common Dog-Bite Injuries and What a Claim Can Recover
Dog attacks rarely leave one clean wound. The injuries that drive a Lake Travis claim tend to fall into a handful of categories, and each one carries its own treatment path and long-term cost:
- Puncture wounds and infection. A dog’s teeth drive bacteria deep into tissue, so a wound that looks minor at the surface can seal over an infection developing underneath. Prompt care and every follow-up visit protect both your health and your claim.
- Lacerations and crush injuries. Larger dogs tear skin and muscle and can fracture bone, often requiring surgery and leaving lasting weakness or limited motion.
- Nerve and tendon damage. Bites to the hands and arms can sever nerves or tendons, sometimes permanently reducing grip or mobility.
- Facial injuries and scarring. Bites to the face, common in children, frequently need reconstruction and scar-revision surgery timed across years of growth.
- Emotional trauma. Nightmares, anxiety around dogs, and post-traumatic stress are real, compensable injuries, especially for a child bitten in a place that used to feel safe.
A well-documented claim seeks the full cost of the attack: past and future medical care, lost wages and lost earning capacity, out-of-pocket expenses, and non-economic harm such as pain, disfigurement, and mental anguish. Because Texas follows modified comparative responsibility, your recovery drops by your share of fault and disappears entirely if you are found more than 50 percent at fault (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 33.001, 33.012). Insurers often try to shift blame onto the injured person to trigger that rule, which is one reason it helps to have the records lined up before you give any recorded statement.
Where the Money Comes From
Most dog-bite claims are paid through the owner’s homeowner or renter insurance, not out of the owner’s own pocket, so pursuing a claim usually does not mean bankrupting a neighbor. When a dog has been legally designated dangerous, the mandatory $100,000 policy is another source of coverage.
We document the medical treatment, scar-revision estimates, lost income, and psychological impact, especially for children, so a quick, low offer does not leave your family paying for future care. Some policies exclude specific breeds, which we check early.
Coverage is not always limited to a single policy. Around Lake Travis, where short-term rentals are common, an attack may implicate more than one liability policy: the dog owner’s, and sometimes the policy of the person who controlled the property. Where a landlord or host knew a dangerous dog was on the premises and allowed it anyway, that knowledge can matter.
We look for every policy that might apply rather than stopping at the first adjuster who calls, because for a serious injury the difference between one policy and two can be the difference between covering a child’s future surgeries and running out of coverage partway through treatment.
Who Can Be Held Responsible
The claim is almost always against the dog’s owner, because the owner is the person the law expects to know the animal and control it. But the owner is not always the only responsible party. A person who was keeping or handling the dog at the time, a dog-sitter or a family member walking it, can owe the same duty of reasonable care.
When a landlord, property manager, or vacation-rental host knew a dangerous dog was on the property and allowed it anyway, they may share liability under ordinary premises principles. Sorting out who is responsible early matters, because it determines which insurance policies are on the table and how much coverage is actually available.
Where Lake Travis Bite Victims Get Treated
Getting examined quickly protects both your health and your claim, a bite that looks minor can hide infection, and a gap in treatment is the first thing an adjuster uses against you. Lake Travis bite victims are usually treated at:
- Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Lakeway (100 Medical Pkwy, Lakeway), a 24/7 emergency room right in Lakeway.
- Dell Seton Medical Center at UT (1500 Red River St, Austin), the only Level I Trauma Center in Central Texas, where the most serious Lake Travis and Hill Country injuries are transported.
- Across the metro, St. David’s and Ascension Seton emergency departments also treat Austin-area injury patients.
Keep every discharge summary, imaging disc, and bill, those records are the backbone of what your claim is worth.
Two Ways to Win a Texas Dog-Bite Case
| Strict liability (“one-bite” rule) | If the owner knew the dog had bitten or shown dangerous tendencies before, they are liable for the attack, the rule from the Texas case Marshall v. Ranne. |
| Negligence | Even a first-time bite can win if the owner was careless, for example, violating a local leash law when the dog got loose. |
A dog formally declared “dangerous” in Texas triggers registration and a $100,000 liability-insurance requirement (Health & Safety Code § 822.042). Most bite claims, though, are paid by the owner’s homeowner’s or renter’s insurance.
Dog Bites Around Lake Travis
The Lake Travis area’s neighborhoods, greenbelt trails, and heavy vacation-rental market mean people and delivery workers regularly cross paths with unfamiliar dogs, sometimes off-leash. If you are bitten:
Get medical care and ask about infection and rabies risk right away.
Identify the dog and owner and get their homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, that is usually who pays.
Report the bite to local animal control so there is an official record.
Photograph the wounds and the location, and keep every medical bill.
How a Lake Travis Dog-Bite Case Proceeds
Most claims settle without a courtroom, but the ones that settle well are built as if they might go to trial. The work starts with the record: medical charts, imaging, the animal-control report, photographs, and witness names, gathered while they still exist.
From there we identify the dog’s owner and every insurance policy that could respond, then put the insurer on notice so it cannot claim surprise later. Once treatment has progressed far enough to know what the injury will actually cost, including any future scar-revision or reconstructive surgery, we present a demand that ties each dollar to a document.
If the insurer offers a fair number, the case resolves. If it lowballs or tries to pin blame on the injured person to trigger the comparative-fault rule, a lawsuit preserves the claim and opens formal discovery, where the owner and witnesses answer under oath.
The goal is not conflict for its own sake; it is to make a low offer more expensive than a fair one. Because there is no fee unless we win, the firm carries the cost of building the case, and you are not paying by the hour while it develops.
The Deadline to File in Texas
Texas gives most injury claims two years from the date of the attack to file a lawsuit (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003). Miss that window and the claim is usually barred no matter how strong it is. For an injured child, the clock is paused: a minor’s injury claim is tolled until they turn 18, so the two years does not begin to run until then (§ 16.001).
Even with time left on the calendar, the practical deadline is sooner, because witnesses move, memories fade, and animal-control records get harder to pull. The strong version of a case is easiest to build while everything is still fresh.
Lake Travis Injury Questions People Ask
Areas We Also Serve
Our Lakeway office anchors a Texas-wide personal injury practice. If your crash happened outside the Lake Travis area, our team also helps injured people in:
Legal Sources & References
Texas law on this page is cited to the official statutes published by the Texas Legislature and was last reviewed on August 4, 2026.
- Statute of limitations, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003
- Comparative responsibility, §§ 33.001, 33.012
- Dog-owner liability, Marshall v. Ranne, 511 S.W.2d 255 (Tex. 1974)
- Texas crash data, TxDOT
- Lake Travis emergency care, Baylor Scott & White – Lakeway, Dell Seton (Level I Trauma)
- Dangerous-dog insurance & registration, Tex. Health & Safety Code § 822.042
Goldberg & Loren
211 Ranch Rd 620 S, Suite #230
Lakeway, TX 78734
(512) 254-4424
In my experience, dog bite victims in Lakeway aren't just dealing with an injury — they're dealing with fear, medical bills, and the stress of a claim they never expected. My job is to give them clear answers and fight for the recovery they deserve.