Is Michael v. Travis County Housing Authority dispositive?
Throughout her brief, Bonham contends that Michael v. Travis County Housing Authority is dispositive of this case. 995 S.W.2d 909 (Tex. App.–Austin 1999, no pet.). In Michael, the plaintiff sued the Housing Authority for personal injuries sustained by her child when the child was attacked by two pit bull dogs. The dogs were owned by a resident of the Housing Authority’s development. Due to the dogs’ vicious nature, the Housing Authority built a fence around the dogs’ owner’s yard specifically to keep the dogs in the yard and to protect passers-by from the dogs. Id. at 914. The dogs escaped through holes in the fence and attacked the plaintiff’s eight-year-old daughter on the nearby sidewalk. Id. at 911. The Michael court concluded that an allegation that the provided fence had large holes, when the purpose of the fence was to restrain the vicious dogs, was a condition of property that was not too attenuated from the girl’s injuries and was a claim within the statutory waiver of sovere
