GALVESTON - A Texas City woman whose four pit bulls broke through a fence and killed a beagle - and who then filed a $200,000 lawsuit against the beagle's owner - has dropped the suit.
Emerald H. White, 39, sued Steven and Tiffany Baker after White's pit bulls killed the Bakers' 10-year-old beagle, according to court documents made public Monday.
White's lawsuit alleged that the beagle attacked her as she entered the Bakers' yard to retrieve her dogs and that the pit bulls were trying to protect her. Court records, however, show that White received 16 citations in the incident and that her pit bulls were declared vicious under Texas City's dangerous dog ordinance.
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"It was really like a feeling of complete disbelief," Steven Baker said of the lawsuit, which was filed just as the Bakers had decided not to sue White.
Tiffany Baker filed an affidavit saying that the pit bulls broke through the fence and killed the 20-pound beagle.
"She died as I and my young daughters, Brittany and Brianna, watched helplessly in horror," Tiffany Baker said in the affidavit.
Steven Baker, 47, absolved his insurance company of any responsibility and vowed to fight when he learned that insurance officials might pay White to settle the lawsuit.
"It was a frivolous lawsuit, and I was not going to let this pit bull owner intimidate me," he said.
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White dropped her lawsuit after the Bakers asked a judge to punish her and her attorney for filing a lawsuit in bad faith to harass them. Angel Hagmaier, the Bakers' attorney, said her clients agreed to drop the sanctions request in return for White ending the lawsuit.
"I feel like we were victorious, but it's not something I am really celebrating," Steven Baker said. "I lost my dog, she died a horrible death."
Neither White nor her attorney, Paul LaValle, could be reached for comment.
