A non-attorney doesn’t have any of the necessary knowledge or experience to adequately investigate a complicated auto accident, or negotiate a fair settlement with insurance companies, or successfully represent him or herself in court. Litigating a vehicle accident injury case is quite complicated. Attorneys who don’t have a deep background in personal injury or auto accident cases don’t have any better chance than you of winning reasonable compensation. So why would you even entertain such a foolish idea, especially when five or six-figure compensation amounts are on the table?
Personal Injury
We guess that the defendant's insurance adjuster and their attorneys have already reached out to you and have even begun offering settlements. Before you speak with an insurance company, or attorney, or accept even a single dollar of payment or compensation from anyone, or sign anything, or attempt to file a lawsuit on your own, you must contact a competent lawyer. Everyone sitting at the defendant’s table wants you to accept a substandard settlement and save their own money. Don’t let them take advantage of you. We warn you to never talk about any details of your intentions, or anything else surrounding the injury, with anyone until you’ve retained your experienced lawyer to protect your interests. Failure to do this will undoubtedly cripple whatever compensation rights you and your family have.
There are many car accident attorneys in Texas. How can you decide which one is right to handle your case? Our Law Firm recommends interviewing at least two or three attorneys before choosing the one you want to hire. Ask each one about his track record for settling and litigating car accident cases. Find out what each attorney thinks the strengths and weaknesses of your case are. See if the lawyers can provide you with the names of former clients whose circumstances were similar to yours. Ask if you can contact them. Then reach out to them and ask the same question you asked the prospective attorney. If you do all of these things diligently, then you have a pretty good chance of selecting a lawyer whose experience in handling cases as yours gives you confidence and peace of mind that this is the lawyer you can trust with your case.
The Texas auto accident lawyers at our Law Firm have been handling car accident insurance claims and civil cases for over 30 years. We continue to win favorable verdicts and negotiate fair settlements against nearly every major auto insurer in the state. They recognize our name, as do their defense attorneys. That reputation is very elemental in securing special attention to our clients’ claims from these insurers. Our goal is to make sure that you recover as much as possible for your injuries and make this sometimes complicated legal process as easy as possible for you.
Put our years of experience to work for you. Know your rights, how to proceed with your claim, and how much compensation you can secure from your auto accident case. Call our Law Firm now at 210-503-7870 for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.
Texas Workers’ Compensation Laws: a Riddle Wrapped in an Enigma
Thanks to our lawmakers (and the insurance company lobbyists who influence them) understanding workers’ comp laws – and their loopholes – is more complicated than it was 10 years ago. Texas construction companies are not required by the state to purchase workers’ comp. So, all workplace injury matters are divided into two distinct types that require wholly different methods and strategies to resolve. Employers who carry worker’s comp are referred to as subscribers; while those who don’t are non-subscribers. In order to know how to proceed with your injury compensation claim, we must first learn whether or not your employer is a subscriber or a non-subscriber.
Workers’ comp benefits come out of a “pool” of funds that are replenished by private insurance carriers that participate in the state-managed program. Workers’ comp pays regardless of whether or not the injury is severe. And it also protects subscriber-employers from employee lawsuits; which is a huge benefit for them. But this protection generally dismisses the full legal rights of employees to be fairly compensated when the employer is generally negligent because it limits, or “caps” the monetary benefits an injured employee can receive through the program.
If your employer subscribes to workers’ comp, it will give some compensatory relief to you when you are injured on the job site. This is because it’s essentially “no-fault” insurance because those covered by workers’ comp are reimbursed, regardless of how the accident occurred or who was at fault. However, in the event of a serious injury, a large part of the time, the amount of money you receive doesn’t necessarily cover the actual expenses of an on-the-job injury; especially if you suffer some sort of disability and cannot work for a long period of time
But in order to receive damages from a non-subscriber to workers’ comp, an injury victim must file a lawsuit. Fortunately for the injured party, the latest workers’ comp legislation established lower standards of proving subscriber negligence. And these same standards also apply against a non-subscriber if the injured worker files in a civil case. So many times it’s moderately easier to prove true liability to a non-subscribing employer, general contractor or subcontractor for accidents on the construction job site.
Since construction is such a dangerous industry by definition, it would seem prudent that all such companies would purchase workers’ comp insurance. But still, some choose not to subscribe to the program, even if it is less expensive than traditional liability insurance. So some shifty employers prefer to take the risk of not subscribing to workers’ comp. Then, when an employee is injured on the job site, seriously or not, they try to avoid a lawsuit by offering to quickly pay the benefits you would generally receive from workers’ comp and ask you to sign what they will represent as a “standard workers’ comp release” in order to further their trickery and evade a lawsuit that could put them out of business. We’ve some of these clever documents and some are pretty good forgeries.
The many reasons why you need an experienced workers comp lawyer with our Law Firm to get to the bottom of your company’s workers’ comp status are probably beginning to pile-up. Once we have identified the nature of your employer’s workman’s comp standing, our attorneys will know how to proceed with your case.
The experienced construction accident lawyers with our Law Firm help injured construction workers deal with their challenging work-injury cases. We have spent decades accumulating the expertise required to help you receive the compensation you deserve. Put our experience to work for you. We can tell you your rights, how to proceed with your claim, how much compensation you can secure and aggressively represent your case or claim to its final resolution: be it through successful negotiations or a favorable verdict in civil court.
Call our Law Firm now at 1(800) 862-1260 (toll-free), for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.
Fortunately, train accidents are less common than car crashes. They do, however, happen more often than you might think, on a daily basis throughout Texas. The manner in which train crashes are portrayed in movies is different than reality.
On the big screen, a train usually crashes into a vehicle that has stopped in the train's path. In reality, most train accidents occur at night when a motorist actually ruins into the side of a speeding train at a railroad intersection. This happens most often because of poor lighting or because the train neglected to blow its own horn at the crossing.
No matter how your accident was caused, it is probably fair to assume that you incurred some serious injuries as well as financial losses. A motorist is very exposed in the family sedan when compared to the massive size and weight of a speeding train. Consequently, train crash victims are generally allowed it to pursue compensation for the sizable damages they will have suffered. These damages may include medical bills, car repair costs, lost wages because of hospitalization, possible future lost income, as well as compensation for pain and suffering. A train accident attorney is necessary in order to fully compute all of the damages that may be available to you.
It is, however, much more difficult to recover damages from train wrecks than from a car crash, since the process is more arduous with the complex laws governing train crashes. Accordingly, our attorneys and their colleagues have written this informative article to help explain the basics of train wreck litigation and to explain more simply your legal rights in these cases.
Since the injuries caused by a train wreck can be so serious, it is no surprise that the consequent medical bills may also be sky-high. Since this puts the immanent spectra of financial losses in the eyes of the railroad and its insurer, don't be surprised at the type of reaction you, as the victim, will get. They will roll out their best teams of attorneys, insurance adjusters, and accident recreation specialists with one common goal: to negate your claim as much as is possible. Because the insurance company stands to lose so much money their adjusters and lawyers will do whatever they can to attempt to show that your accident was your own fault. Expect these adjusters and attorneys to be ruthless and highly skilled. Without an experienced train accident attorney on your own side, you stand to have a short trial with negative results; this is literally the type of case when having the right attorney can make the difference between receiving a generous settlement and receiving little or no settlement at all.
We should also note that there exists a curious public bias against the victim in these types of crashes. Studies have shown that juries will actually have a slight bias that favors the train. Perhaps this stems from public opinion thinking that an automobile is so much faster and more maneuverable than is a bulky huge train. In any case, when the attorneys at Our Law Office become involved in a train wreck case we gather all the evidence possible at the scene of the accident; this may include witness testimonies, photographs, surveillance videos, measurement, police reports, bits of wreckage ... whatever we think will be helpful in bolstering your case. We then work to build up a strong, well-substantiated case that will simply present the true facts to a jury, in a persuasive and convincing manner. Finally, we go into court well armed and ready to convince the jury that true negligence was at the hands of the train, not with you. 
While a train accident can certainly cause a lot of pain and confusion in your life it does not have to stay that way. The train accident attorneys at our Law Offices have been litigating personal injury cases like this for over 20 years. During that period of time, we have won millions and millions of dollars for our Texas clients from major transportation companies and from their insurance companies. Consequently, these huge insurance companies are only too well aware of our stellar reputation and will often seek to settle out of court rather than face out tenacious and skilled attorneys in front of a jury. This can, of course, be beneficial to you, allowing you to spend less time in the whole legal process and enabling you to receive your settlement more rapidly and thus return more easily to your normal life.
If you or a family member has been injured in a train accident contact our Law Offices today. We are available 24 hours a day. We are pleased to offer a free consultation and we stand by ready to discuss your case with you and to answer all your specific questions.
After a car accident involving you or a loved one, you must protect your legal rights against those who would deny you fair injury compensation. Car accidents are a common occurrence and can be little more than a minor fender bender in a parking lot. But just as often, they can be destructive wrecks that cause devastating injuries and deep scars, physically and psychologically. The lives of the victims and their families are thrown into chaos after a serious auto accident in which they were reluctantly involved.
Personal Injury
After a serious accident involving injuries, you are entitled to seek compensation for the financial, physical, and emotional damages you suffered from the car crash. But without intimate knowledge of your case, it is impossible to compute the amount you may be entitled to. Due to the damages, you have a right to seek compensation depending on the unique circumstances of your case. We’re here to help you understand the need to hire an attorney with successful experience in personal injury if you wish to receive the fairest legal damages. You’re welcome to try and handle this matter on your own if you want or hire your nephew who just passed the bar. What we hope to do is explain some of the basics of auto personal injury cases for you. If you’ve been involved in a little fender-bender with no complications or injuries other than a headache, you can probably handle things on your own, so long as you’re cautious. If you call your auto accident a “car wreck,” we strongly urge you to quickly retain an experienced local auto accident attorney who knows the ropes surrounding Texas car accident litigation.
How do we determine whether or not we have a successful personal injury case against a defendant who should reimburse us for our injuries? All actual accident victims have a legal right to collect damages by proving the four elements of a car accident claim. Since you will be the one asking for compensation, the burden to you, the injured plaintiff, is to prove you are owed these damages by the defendants who only have to deny and disprove your claim.
There are four elements to proving injuries against a defendant. You must demonstrate your charges are true. They are duty, breach, causation, and damages. A brief overview of each is below:
Duty - The defendant owed you a duty of care to exercise a certain level of caution to ensure that you would not get hurt. Texas Civil Codes and Procedures set the level of duty that a person or organization owes to another depending on the circumstances of the situation that are considered within the relationship of the parties involved at the time. Proving that the defendant owed you at least some duty of care will probably be reasonably uncomplicated since nearly all drivers owe each other the general duty to drive reasonably to keep others safe. Unless there are unusual circumstances, and there are a few, the chances are that a general “reasonable person standard” applies to the defendant (or defendants) in your case.
Breach - In a vast majority of personal injury cases, plaintiffs and their attorneys need to clearly show that the defendant drove in a way that a reasonable person would not have driven. If the defendant in your case drives unreasonably only for the moments immediately leading up to your car wreck, he can be held responsible for the consequences of his negligent actions that caused you harm. Successfully proving that the defendant breached his duty of care is done when you and your attorney present evidence to remove any doubt that what the defendant did (or failed to do reasonably) caused the car wreck. The jurors in your case will consider your charges of the breach along with additional evidence that clearly illustrates the defendant’s actions (and malicious intent if it was present). During their deliberations, they rule the defendant behaved either reasonably or unreasonably. Offenses such as speeding, recklessness, driving at night without headlights, running through red lights, driving while intoxicated, and more can constitute a breach of the defendant’s duty of care, even if they may not have been legally charged for these offenses in criminal court.
Causation - You must now demonstrate that the defendant breached his duty of care through negligence. But simply showing that this person might have been negligent isn’t always enough to win your charges that the defendant is responsible for your auto wreck. Because in his attempts to deny causation, a defendant will often argue “unforeseeable circumstances” such as other drivers, pedestrians, or even you, caused the wreck instead. This argument is the last resort for an accident defendant to wiggle out of liability for your injuries. So expect them to swing from the floor and claim anything from a homeless person stepping in their way and forcing them to hit your vehicle, to their toddler threw a bottle of apple juice at the driver. Maybe it happened, perhaps it didn’t. But how do you disprove the defense? It’s up to you and your accident injury lawyer to thwart their excuses, or the happy defendant skips out of the courtroom. So it’s essential to have sufficient evidence to prove any defense that is thrown at you and nail down the defendant’s conduct that seriously hurt you.
Damages - It’s now time to establish the amount of money you are entitled to collect from the defendant and hand him the bill in court. The term “damages” isn’t limited to just your injuries and the bills that must be paid. It refers to the entire monetary value of your injuries (the sum of money) you’ll recover from the defendant if you win your case. Damages often include pain and suffering arising from your injury, present lost wages as a result of it, and loss of future earning capacity if your injury leads to long-term disability. Included, of course, is repair or replacement bills for your auto and any items of worth that were destroyed in the wreck. All these and even more might be available to surviving family members if the victim dies in the wreck. So you’ll need to calculate what you’re owed and provide airtight evidence to support your calculations.
You have your figure and the defendants have theirs (often less than your price tag). Damage amounts are almost always the most contentious issue in a car accident case or insurance claim. Defendants typically argue that they owe you much less than you might claim (if anything at all). They’ll accuse you of asking for a handout and say your requested amount is far higher than traditional payouts. Often the accusation that you’re filing a frivolous lawsuit isn’t far away either. This argument is usually the last stand a negligent defendant makes. So you must clearly show the jury that your requested damage amount is realistic and proportional to the harm done to you and finish your case strongly with clear evidence that proves your losses are the actual total of your damages. More on this website
Accurate determination of damages is as essential as the other three burdens of proof since you have only got one shot to receive compensation from any single defendant. There are no do-overs. But computing every individual loss is a challenge without an experienced auto accident attorney who knows the value of personal injury losses and how to effectively calculate them. How do you accurately represent an intangible loss such as pain and suffering, or that of your child? When calculating the loss of earning capacity, if you are permanently disabled, how do you account for hypothetical raises and promotions you would have earned had you continued to work? Perhaps you would have gotten a promotion or were hired away by another company at double your current salary. How can you calculate how much all of your medical bills will amount to if your treatment is not yet complete, and your doctor can’t tell how long it will last? We at our Texas Law Firm know how to account for and calculate every one of your damages. We make doubly certain that you recover as much as possible from your injuries.
Call us today. One of our accident injury attorneys will patiently listen to you, analyze your case, and explain your options. Our goal is to make sure that you recover as much as possible for your injuries and make this sometimes complicated legal process as easy as possible for you to bear.
The period after a car accident is often stressful and confusing. Don’t add to it and the confusion it creates by letting an inexperienced attorney handle your case or represent yourself when you are unqualified. With decades of experience, we are uniquely qualified and fully prepared to get you the best results possible. If you or someone you know was injured in a car accident, contact an attorney at our Texas Law Firm today for a free consultation and find out how we can help you.
The Texas Workers' Compensation claims process is very complex, especially in cases where the employer denies an injured worker's claim or tries to stop payments after they've begun.
To help injured workers understand the work comp claims process, our firm has provided this general outline of the workers' compensation process.
When you are injured on the job, you are required to report the injury to your employer within 120 days of being injured.
If you fail to report the injury to your employer within 120 days of being injured or within 120 days of learning that you have a work-related disease, you are not able to collect workers' compensation payments and your case ends here. An exception exists for cases involving progressive diseases.
Personal Injury
Under Texas law, employers are required to post a form where it can be seen and read by all employees. This form gives the contact information for the person who handles workers' compensation claims for your company. The form will provide the name, address, and phone number of the person you should contact should you get hurt on the job.
After you properly notify your employer of your injury, your employer must immediately report the injury to its work comp insurance company. The employer must also file a Report of Occupational Injury or Disease with the Bureau of Workers' Compensation within a set time frame. If an injury results in death, the employer is required to file the report with the Bureau within 48 hours.
At this point, the employer will either accept or deny responsibility for your injury. Please choose one of the statements below that best describes your situation:
Injured on the job? Put our experience to work for you
If you don't have a lawyer to help you with your workers' compensation claim, the deck is stacked against you. It is important to know your legal rights if you are injured at work. The lawyers at our firm have been helping injured workers for over 35 years. Let us put this experience to work for you.
Free Worker's Compensation Consultation
Don't have a lawyer to help you with your work injury claim? If you have suffered a work-related injury, you can contact our law firm for a free consultation of your worker's compensation claim by calling our law firm from anywhere in the United States. At our law firm, there is no obligation to use our services and we never charge a fee unless we get money for you. Have question for our Construction accident Attorney - click here
San Antonio Personal Injury Lawyers » “Last Clear Chance” as a Personal Injury Defense
What is the Last Clear Chance Doctrine, and How Can it Affect my Case?
If you have suffered an injury due to the negligent conduct of another party, you may be able to recover for the damages you have suffered. The specific circumstances that led to your injury will determine what must be proven in your cause of action for your theory of recovery to be successful. This is why it is important that you obtain skilled legal representation to ensure that your claim is successful.
As you can imagine, in every lawsuit there will be obstacles that your claim will encounter that may stand in the way of your ability to get the recovery you deserve. There are many defenses available to the party you file suit against. This is even more of an issue if the defendant has an attorney formulating arguments to avoid being held liable for your losses. One of these defenses that could potentially be used against you is the Last Clear Chance Doctrine. However, with an attorney who knows this area of the law fighting for you, your case can defeat these defenses because this doctrine may also be utilized to your advantage. The attorneys at our Law Offices have been handling personal injury cases for over twenty years and have the necessary training and expertise required in these types of lawsuits.
The last clear chance doctrine is a legal concept that is used in certain jurisdictions depending on the model that the particular location uses to evaluate the fault of different parties involved in a lawsuit. It basically allows a plaintiff filing a lawsuit to recover even if they are negligent and contribute to the accident if the defendant had the last opportunity to prevent the accident from occurring.
Although the doctrine is used widely in other jurisdictions, Texas traditionally favors using modified comparative fault in order to draw a broad analysis of fault in an accident. This can be to your advantage because in Texas the fault of both parties is evaluated and then each party will be allotted a percentage of the blame. Texas law permits a plaintiff to recover so long as you were not over 50% responsible for the accident that occurred.
Therefore, there is no need to determine who had the last opportunity to avoid the accident in order to gauge whether or not you may still recover for your losses, as you may recover regardless. This can be difficult to discern depending on the circumstances of the accident that you were involved in.
To illustrate, if there was a car accident and a number of negligent drivers were involved, each driver may be allotted some portion of blame. If you are found to have been negligent then whatever percentage is attributed to you will be deducted from your recovery.
These concepts can be incredibly confusing because of the difficulty that arises when determining the negligence of the parties and ultimately what recovery should be granted. This is why it is so crucial that you obtain an attorney that is familiar with this area of the law and these legal mechanisms and is capable of using them to your advantage. Personal injury cases often involve serious injuries that can result in physical, emotional and financial difficulties. The attorneys at our Law Offices have been litigating personal injury lawsuits for over two decades and are dedicated to ensuring that our clients are satisfied with our legal services. To discuss your potential cause of action, contact us at any time!
If you have been injured in a pedestrian accident, you may be eligible for compensation in a personal injury claim. And while you may be able to settle a small claim on your own, any claim involving serious and substantial injuries should be handled by a pedestrian accident lawyer.
There are several significant benefits to working with an experienced pedestrian accident lawyer, including these 4 advantages:
A pedestrian accident lawyer knows the damages to which you may be entitled - this includes current and future medical expenses, your pain and suffering and any lost wages from work, as well as how to calculate them. In addition, your attorney can negotiate with the insurance company for a fair settlement.
A pedestrian accident lawyer understands your state's negligence laws - this will help in analyzing evidence to defend your best interests throughout the claims process, including any degree of fault on your part that the insurance company will try to claim to reduce or deny the compensation you deserve.
A pedestrian accident lawyer knows the tricks and tactics commonly used by the insurance company - this may include getting you to say or sign something that can drastically reduce the value of your claim.
A pedestrian accident lawyer can take your case to court - if this is necessary, your attorney can argue your case at trial.
While minor injuries can often be easily settled without the help of a lawyer, long-term or permanent injuries can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills alone. Once you accept an offer from the insurance company, you are almost always barred from seeking additional compensation in the future, even if your accident injuries require future surgeries or care.
A pedestrian accident lawyer can make all the difference. You can learn more about the difference a pedestrian accident lawyer can make by visiting our article library.
While you can't predict whether a pedestrian accident in will happen to you or someone you love, you can be sure of your best course of action following an accident: seek medical attention and contact a pedestrian accident lawyer as soon as possible.
Recovering from your injuries after a pedestrian accident should be your main priority, not dealing with insurance adjusters and complicated legal paperwork. Before accepting a settlement offer, contact the Law Offices our office to set up a no-cost consultation with a pedestrian accident lawyer about your case.
San Antonio Personal Injury Lawyers » What to Expect in Your Personal Injury Case
We often find that our clients want to have a good understanding of what to expect in their case. In this article, we’ll walk you through the various aspects of a normal personal injury case
Upset driver After Traffic Accident
Contrary to popular belief, it is not as simple as filing a claim and the defendant voluntarily paying you for your suffering. In fact, most defendants will do anything to avoid paying you a fair amount and your ability to get adequate compensation is based on how well you convince the defendant that a jury would make them pay a large sum of money. All that is done by your attorneys is done for that reason.
The first thing you will do is talk to one of our experienced attorneys here at our Law Offices. You will need to call and speak with our legal staff who will need to ask you a few questions before scheduling an in-office appointment. They will briefly discuss the details of your claim and get a better understanding about how we might specifically be able to help you.
When you come in for your appointment with one of our attorneys they will go over every detail of your injury. We will need to know things like where you were injured, when you sought medical attention, and how your doctor has treated your ailment so far. If you were injured while working, the outcome of your personal injury claim will largely revolve around whether your employer is a subscriber or a nonsubscriber. This relates to the insurance coverage your employer pays for and whether you will be able to recover any damages beyond reimbursement for your actual injuries.
A large portion of personal injury lawsuits are comprised of discovery. Discovery is the legal term for the time period in which both sides uncover and research the facts of your claim. Our attorneys at our law Offices regularly rely on the testimony of expert witnesses to explain the details of your accident and the resulting injuries to a jury. These expert witnesses include expert physicians who will personally examine you and identify your injuries. We cannot fully understand the extent of your damages and how much you should be compensated until we definitively ascertain from a specialist how your injury will affect your short-term and long-term health.
Also, many times the defendant will have insurance companies fighting your claim. These insurance companies frequently hire their own doctors to examine you and your injuries. While this might seem somewhat intrusive, it is necessary so that we may ultimately help you seek justice and receive compensation for your injuries. If at any time you have any questions about the discovery process and how you will be expected to cooperate, our attorneys and legal staff here at our Law Offices are always available to speak with you.
Generally, the actual lawsuit will only last a few days in court. During this time our attorneys must convince the jury that you have been hurt due to the defendant’s negligence and that their action or inaction was the proximate cause of your injuries. Our attorneys at our Law Offices regularly utilize expert witnesses to fully explain the extent of your injuries and exactly how the defendant’s negligence caused your accident.
Often during trial the defense will attempt to introduce evidence and arguments to attack you personally and distract from the actual case at hand. You should be prepared for the defendant’s counsel to attempt using these offensive claims, but also know that this information will generally not be tolerated. Our attorneys are very skilled and experienced in handling personal attacks like these. We will do our best to limit these irrelevant claims and defend your rights in and out of court.
Many personal injury lawsuits are settled outside of court. This is achieved through negotiations between the two parties, mediation, and sometimes arbitration. Our attorneys will do our very best to make sure that you receive a fair and just resolution to your claim. Often times we find that you are greatly benefited from settling out of court instead of dragging out your claim for a potentially longer period of time.
Mediation is a great tool to use in reaching a pre-trial resolution. During this time we will use the evidence we have acquired during the discovery process and we will personally meet with the defendant’s attorneys to discuss your injuries and damages sustained. Our attorneys are very experienced in reaching creative solutions to benefit you and your family in generally a much faster process than if we actually took your case to trial.
Our Law Officers are incredibly qualified to handle your personal injury claim and are very skilled in helping our clients seek the compensation they deserve. Our goal is to help you and your family through this entire process. We will be with you through each step of the way and, with our assistance, your claim can reach a successful resolution and you can be adequately compensated for your damages.
The entire process of filing a personal injury claim can be incredibly complex and sometimes overwhelming for a victim who is unfamiliar with the legal system. The attorneys at our Law Offices understand that the process is likely foreign to you and that is why we would like to help you with your potential claim. We want you to be confident in choosing us to represent you and we want to make sure that your rights are sufficiently represented. We are dedicated to helping you through every step of the trial process and you can call us anytime, day or night, or visit this website
San Antonio Personal Injury Lawyers » How Does a Personal Injury Case Work?
Everybody thinks they know how personal injury cases work, but there are a lot of misconceptions and this article is going to explain specifically how they work without delving too far into complicated legalese.
While personal injury cases are in fact based on law, certain elements of these types of cases are based on what we call common law. Common law is basically judicial law or case law. It is derived from law established by judges through court decisions, which is different than statutes that are developed by legislation. Comparatively, statutes are codified law and they are also used in personal injury lawsuits. Lastly, the basic laws that will also interact with your lawsuit are outlined in the civil practices and remedies code. But certain types of cases draw from other bodies of law as well. For instance, dram shop cases are based on the alcohol and beverage code, workers' compensation cases are based on the labor code and a theory of liability on a truck accident case may be based on the transportation code. As such, to know what you are doing in a personal injury case you have to know all of the laws that apply.
Injury cases are based on holding someone accountable for their negligence. The principle at work is called equity. Equity basically states that you as the injured party should be reimbursed for our losses and put whole again when someone’s wrongdoing causes you damages.
Not every act that someone commits is what we call actionable. That is to say that not everything someone does to harm you will result in a personal injury lawsuit. However, when someone commits an act that we consider to be negligent in nature, that will usually be the genesis of your right to bring a claim against him or her. This right to bring a claim or mechanism by which you bring a claim is what we call a cause of action.
Legally speaking, a cause of action is defined as a set of facts and circumstances that allow you as the plaintiff to file a lawsuit against another party, the defendant. In order to pursue a cause of action you have to allege facts in something called a complaint, which is what will start your lawsuit. Your cause of action is basically the legal theory of recovery you are basing your lawsuit on and the remedies or relief you want the court to grant you against the defendant.
Plaintiff
You, as the party who is filing the lawsuit in a civil cause of action, will be called the plaintiff. The plaintiff is the complainant and is the person who is responsible for initiating the lawsuit. As the plaintiff, you are seeking a legal remedy, which is typically the court issuing some type of order or judgment that is favorable to your circumstances.
Defendant
The defendant will be the person or entity that you are filing your lawsuit against. In a civil lawsuit, they are the party that has to respond to your complaint. If your claim is successful, the defendant will have to pay some financial sum or do some action that the court orders them to do.
Burdens of the Plaintiff
The plaintiff has the obligation to prove to the court that the defendant acted negligently and that their negligent acts were the proximate cause of your injury. Depending on the type of injury that you have suffered and your theory of recovery, you may have different burdens of proof as the plaintiff. Personal injury lawsuits encompass a huge body of law; therefore your burden could be drastically different in a product liability lawsuit as compared to medical malpractice or car accident case. This is one of the many reasons why you absolutely must have an attorney experienced in personal injury law.
Damages
The goal of any personal injury case is to recover compensation for the losses that you have sustained. The various forms of compensation are referred to as damages. Damages commonly sought in personal injury claims include pain and suffering, lost wages, and loss of companionship or household services.
Once you know the extent to which you have been injured and theories of liability with regard to what the defendant did wrong, you will typically file a lawsuit against the defendant. As stated previously, this is simply the means by which you ask the court to hear both sides of the story and determine if an award should be granted. Find more information here
In conclusion, personal injury lawsuits can be difficult to comprehend. However, with an attorney trained in personal injury law your chances of winning your lawsuit and getting the recovery you deserve increase exponentially. The attorneys at our Law Offices have worked with clients in their respective personal injury lawsuits for many decades throughout the state of Texas and the San Antonio area. We are fully equipped and ready to get you the legal relief you deserve. To discuss your potential lawsuit over a free consultation, contact our Law Offices
