Owners of Dead Beagle Fight Suit Against Them

In late October, Emerald White's four pit bulls got into a neighbor's yard and killed the Baker family's 10-year-old beagle. And then White sued the Texas family. Court documents released yesterday paint a fuller picture, the Houston Chronicle reports: White alleged she was trying to collect her dogs when the beagle went after her; she says her dogs were just trying to protect her but that she suffered "multiple serious bite and scratch-type injuries requiring ongoing medical treatment." But per those records, White was handed 16 citations, and she's now walking away without the up to $1 million she hoped to collect in her suit against Steven and Tiffany Baker. The Galveston County Daily News reports she dropped the suit—after the Bakers got tough.

After hearing that his insurance company was considering paying White in order to settle the suit, Steven Baker decided to fight. The Bakers' lawyer filed a motion for sanctions against White and her attorney for, as the Chronicle puts it, "filing a lawsuit in bad faith to harass them." Steven Baker then agreed to drop his sanctions request if White dropped her suit, which she did. "No money was offered or exchanged hands," says the Bakers' attorney. "We gave them the opportunity to do the right thing and they took it." KVUE reports that White has since moved. (More beagle stories.)