State laws › TX
Dog bite law in Texas: what you have to prove, and who pays
- Framework No statute
- Covers Depends on theory
- Damages Full damages available
No civil dog bite statute — Marshall v. Ranne, 511 S.W.2d 255 (Tex. 1974)
Texas has no civil dog bite statute at all. Everything runs through case law, and the popular name for the Texas rule badly understates what a claimant can do.
The rule
- There is no statute. There are two theories.
Texas liability comes from Marshall v. Ranne, a 1974 Texas Supreme Court decision adopting Restatement (Second) of Torts § 509. The case is universally cited on dog bite pages and is worth noting that it actually involved a hog.
- Theory one does not require a prior bite.
The rule is often called the "one free bite" rule, which is misleading. What you show is that the owner knew or had reason to know the animal had dangerous propensities. Growling at visitors, lunging, snapping, or straining at a leash can establish that without any bite ever having occurred.
- Theory two is ordinary negligence, and it needs no history at all.
A Texas claimant can also proceed on negligence — that the owner failed to control or restrain the dog. Where the owner violated a local leash ordinance or a state restraint statute, that can be negligence per se. This path does not require any evidence about the dog's character.
Worth knowing
The belief that a first bite has no remedy in Texas is widespread and wrong. It costs Texans valid claims every year.
Who the claim is actually against
In most Texas bite claims the money comes from the dog owner's homeowners or renters liability coverage rather than from the owner personally. Liability limits commonly run from $100,000 to $500,000, and the coverage usually follows the dog off the property. Policies routinely exclude specific breeds or dogs with a documented bite history, which is the single most common reason an otherwise good claim goes nowhere.
How homeowners coverage works in a bite claim →
Texas is consistently among the top three states for dog-related injury claim volume.
The deadline
There is a filing deadline in Texas and it is shorter than most people expect. It can be shortened further if a city, county or state entity is involved, and it can be extended if the injured person is a minor. The general personal injury period is commonly cited as 2 years (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003), but do not rely on that figure — including from this page — without confirming the date that applies to your facts with a lawyer licensed in Texas.
Cases this page relies on
- Marshall v. Ranne 511 S.W.2d 255 (Tex. 1974)
What to do next
If the injury was treated and is healing, there is no lasting scarring, and nobody is disputing what happened, this is the kind of claim most law firms will not take — and the kind you can often handle yourself. The Claim Kit covers it end to end.
If a child was bitten, there is scarring anywhere visible, you needed surgery or a specialist, there is nerve damage, you are still in treatment, or the insurer is denying coverage, talk to a lawyer before you sign anything.
Last reviewed August 2026 · Corrections welcome