Lawsuit filed following alleged dog attack

A West Odessa woman has filed a lawsuit against her neighbors alleging their negligence led to her 11-year-old son being attacked by three of their dogs.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed in the 70th Ector County District Court, Eduardo Sai Portillo was playing in the back yard of his home on La Bonita Drive on April 26, 2021, when Robert Lucero Jr. and Sonia Reza let three Boxers out of their chainlink pen and they immediately ran and attacked him.

The boy suffered “serious lacerations on both legs that required medical and surgical intervention,” according to the lawsuit.

Keren Portillo’s attorney, Spencer Dobbs, said Reza came to the boy’s rescue and was also hurt during the attack. She and Lucero surrendered their dogs to the authorities and the dogs were euthanized after being quarantined for several days to ensure they didn’t have rabies, he said.

The boy had wounds extending from his calves up to his thighs, Dobbs said.

Dobbs said neighbors told investigators the dogs had acted aggressively toward them on prior occasions and Lucero admitted he knew that, too.

According to the lawsuit, Lucero is guilty of negligent conduct for failing to confine the animals in a secure location, failing to properly restrain the animals and failing to properly train the animals.

The boy has “visible scarring and emotional scarring, too,” Dobbs said.

The family is seeking monetary damages of more than $200,000, but less than $1 million because of the medical expenses incurred by the family, but also because of the physical and mental pain caused by the attacks, according to the lawsuit.

The law firm of Doyle and Seelbach, in responding to the lawsuit, entered a “general denial” of the allegations. The firm also said the couple “have no actual or constructive knowledge of the three Boxer breed dogs’ assumed dangerous propensities.”

The firm also noted that if the jury finds the boy was more than 50% responsible for his injuries or if he voluntarily exposed himself to “any alleged danger” he knew about, he wouldn’t be able to recover any damages.